Facts About Austria That None Would Have Heard Of

• The population of Austria is estimated at 8,823,054.
• The Government of Austria is a federal parliamentary republic.

• The national flag of Austria has three horizontal stripes.  The top and bottom stripes are red, and the middle bar is white.

• German is the official language of Austria.

• Austria has a land area of 32,386 square miles (83,879 km²). 

• The population density in Austria is 269.4 per square mile (104 per square kilometer). 

• Austria is a landowner country.

• There are surprisingly eight countries on the border of Austria including Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

• The full long name of Austria is the Republic of Austria or Republic Ostrich.  (Oesterreich means “Eastern March” or “Eastern Region”).

• The largest city in Austria, Vienna is the capital of Austria.

• Austria is world famous for music and is the birthplace of many famous musicians such as Hayden, Strauss, Schubert, and Mozart.

• Austria is not a member of NATO.

• Austria’s per capita GDP remains consistently high at $49,436.

• Christian Austrians, including Catholics and Protestants, are required to pay a mandatory membership fee for their church, which is based on their income and It’s called   “Kirchebbeitrag.” 

• About 58% of Austrians identify as Roman   Catholics.    Registered as Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist are the small percentage of   Austrians, claiming to have no religion or other. Those doing are about 24.5%.

• For all children between the ages of three and six, pre-school education is available and, in most states, free of cost.

• The rate of women working out of the home is one of the highest in Austria’s industrial world.

• A well-known, important sport in Austria is alpine skiing.  Alpine skiing helps to boost the country’s economic growth and is an attraction for tourism.

• The most popular sport in Austria is football.

• There are about 20,000 private small schnapps distilleries in Austria.

• Red Bull, the best-selling energy drink on earth, was invented in Austria.

• Adolf Hitler was born in Bruna M.  Inn, Austria, in 1889 and was born near Lintz.  He moved to Germany in 1913.

• Austria’s national flag is the oldest in the world dating back to 1230.

• One of Austria’s most famous dishes is Weiner Schnitzel, which means ‘Viennese cutlet’ in German.  It is made from a thin veal cutlet, which is brittle and pan-fried.

• Wurstelprater in Vienna is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.

• The Tier Garten Schoenborn, in   Vienna, Austria, is the oldest zoo in the world.

• 29. The Schoenborn Palace, a former imperial summer residence in Vienna, is one of Austria’s most important historical, cultural, and architectural monuments.

• Austria is one of the densest forested countries in Central Europe, and 2/3rd of Austria’s total area is covered with grassland and forest.

• About 300 international companies have settled their Eastern European headquarters in Vienna and the surrounding area.

• During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria was a great power in Europe.

• Austria is the country where the first postcards were issued.  Austria is slightly smaller than the (U.S. state) in this region.

• On 26 October each year, Austria celebrates a national holiday called National Day that commemorates the passage of the Constitutional Law on Permanent Neutrality in 1955.

• Individuals who have reached the age of 18 and are considered fit are essentially required to serve six months in the Austrian Armed Forces.

• Austria has been a member of the European Union since 1995.

• The currency in Austria since 1999 has been the euro.

• Austria is high on the list of Nobel Prize winners per capita.  It is ranked 7th in the world for all awards and 4th in the world for scientific awards.

• Austria was made part of Nazi Germany in 1938 and was no longer an independent country until 1955.

• The tallest waterfalls in Austria, whose total height is 1,247 feet (380 m), are the Krimal waterfalls.

• There is mostly Central European wildlife in Austria such as foxes, deer, pheasants, deer, hares, rabbits, crews, scoundrels, and martyrs.

• Austria was the first country to publish a postal card.  The idea was presented in Germany a few years ago but it was not executed until a year after Austria published the first postal card.

• Austria shares its longest border with Germany.

• There are no nuclear power plants in Austria.

• Most taxis in Austria are Mercedes.

• Austria’s per capita income from tourism is the third highest in the European Union.   More than 30 million tourists visit the country every year.

• Austria became independent on October 26, 1955.

• 48.  A very small percentage of Austrians are involved in agriculture (the share of agricultural production is less than 1.5% of GDP. The average size of a farm in Austria is 45 acres.

• Austria stretches 360 miles from east to west.

• Vienna is the capital and the largest city in the country.