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Population, Total (Millions), 2021: 8.96
Population Growth, Annual (%), 2021: 0.4%
Population Density (People per Square Kilometer of Land Area) 2021: 108.5
Poverty Headcount at National Level Poverty Lines (% of Population), 2021: 14.8%
Life Expectancy at Birth, Total (Years), 2021: 81 years
Under-5 Mortality Rate (Per 1,000 Live Births), 2021: 3
Urban Population Growth (Annual %), 2021: 0.9%

Source: World Bank. Country Profile: Austria. World Development Indicators Database. World Bank Group Archives, Washington, DC. Last accessed August 18, 2025.

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Population, Midyear 2022: 8,939,617
Projected Population, Midyear 2030: 9,054,576
Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2022: 19.81%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2030: 24.02%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2050: 30.40%

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.

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Population, 2021: 8,922,000
Annual Population Growth Rate, 2020-2030 (%): 0.1%
Life Expectancy at Birth, 2021: 82
Share of Urban Population, 2021: 59%
Annual Growth Rate of Urban Population, 2020-2030 (%): 0.6%

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2023: For every child, vaccination, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, April 2023.

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Share of the population aged 65 and over, 2021: 19.2%
Share of the population aged 65 and over, 2050: 27.7%
Share of the population aged 80 and over, 2021: 5.6%
Share of the population aged 80 and over, 2050: 11.2%

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

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“Austria is a landlocked country. It borders eight countries: the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland (see Figure 1.1). The country is shaped by the Alps: around 40% of its land mass (approximately 84 000 km²) is more than 1 000 m above sea level.

“In 2016, Austria’s population was approximately 8.7 million. Austria is relatively sparsely populated when compared to the EU average, with currently 106 inhabitants per square kilometre. Around one third of the population lives in rural areas and about 20% of the total population live in the capital Vienna. German is the official language, but specific rights are granted to recognized linguistic minorities. The majority (about 70%) of Austrians are Roman Catholic.

“Fertility rates remained quite stable between 1995 and 2016 (Table 1.1). Since 1980, the annual population growth rate has been increasing as birth rates and migration inflows surpass death rates. The growing inflow of immigrants (European and non-European) has resulted in the fifth highest share of foreign nationals in the population (12.5%) among EU countries (Eurostat, 2015). As of 2016, 22.1% of the population had a background of migration (at least one parent is foreign born) (Statistics Austria, 2017g).

“Interestingly, the female population surplus is declining – mostly because widows of men killed during the Second World War are dying. Similar to other western European countries, Austria’s population is ageing. While the share of under-15-year-olds has declined by more than 15% since 2000, the share of the population older than 65 years has increased by almost 24% in the same period. This results in an age dependency ratio of nearly 50% (Table 1.1), which is one of the highest among EU-28 countries.”

Source: Bachner F, Bobek J, Habimana K, Ladurner J, Lepuschütz L, Ostermann H, Rainer L, Schmidt A E, Zuba M, Quentin W, Winkelmann J. Austria: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2018; 20(3): 1 – 256.

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated August 18, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.