AUSTRIA
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 83,850 km2; land area: 82,730 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Maine
Land boundaries: 2,640 km total; Czechoslovakia 548 km,
Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 37 km,
Switzerland 164 km, Yugoslavia 311 km
Coastline: none--landlocked
Maritime claims: none--landlocked
Climate: temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent
rain in lowlands and snow in mountains; cool summers with occasional
showers
Terrain: mostly mountains with Alps in west and south; mostly flat,
with gentle slopes along eastern and northern margins
Land use: arable land 17%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and
pastures 24%; forest and woodland 39%; other 19%; includes irrigated
NEGL%
Environment: because of steep slopes, poor soils, and cold
temperatures, population is concentrated on eastern lowlands
Note: landlocked; strategic location at the crossroads of
central Europe with many easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys;
major river is the Danube
PEOPLE
Population: 7,665,804 (July 1991), growth rate 0.3% (1991)
Birth rate: 12 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 11 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: 2 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 5 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 74 years male, 81 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 1.5 children born/woman (1991)
Ethnic divisions: German 99.4%, Croatian 0.3%, Slovene 0.2%,
other 0.1%
Religion: Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant 6%, other 9%
Language: German
Literacy: 99% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1974 est.)
Labor force: 3,470,000 (1989); services 56.4%, industry and crafts
35.4%, agriculture and forestry 8.1%; an estimated 200,000 Austrians are
employed in other European countries; foreign laborers in Austria number
177,840, about 6% of labor force (1988)
Organized labor: 60.1% of work force; the Austrian Trade Union
Federation has 1,644,408 members (1989)
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Republic of Austria
Type: federal republic
Capital: Vienna
Administrative divisions: 9 states (bundeslander,
singular--bundesland); Burgenland, Karnten, Niederosterreich,
Oberosterreich, Salzburg, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Wien
Independence: 12 November 1918 (from Austro-Hungarian Empire)
Legal system: civil law system with Roman law origin; judicial
review of legislative acts by a Constitutional Court; separate
administrative and civil/penal supreme courts; has not accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: National Day, 26 October (1955)
Executive branch: president, chancellor, vice chancellor, Council
of Ministers (cabinet)
Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung)
consists of an upper council or Federal Council (Bundesrat) and a lower
council or National Council (Nationalrat)
Judicial branch: Supreme Judicial Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) for
civil and criminal cases, Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof)
for bureaucratic cases, Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof) for
constitutional cases
Leaders:
Chief of State--President Kurt WALDHEIM (since 8 July 1986);
Head of Government--Chancellor Franz VRANITZKY (since 16 June
1986); Vice Chancellor Josef RIEGLER (since 19 May 1989)
Political parties and leaders:
Socialist Party of Austria (SPO), Franz VRANITZKY, chairman;
Austrian People's Party (OVP), Josef RIEGLER, chairman;
Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), Jorg HAIDER, chairman;
Communist Party (KPO), Franz MUHRI, chairman;
Green Alternative List (GAL), Andreas WABL, chairman
Suffrage: universal at age 19; compulsory for presidential
elections
Elections:
President--last held 8 June 1986 (next to be held May 1992);
results of Second Ballot--Dr. Kurt WALDHEIM 53.89%, Dr. Kurt STEYRER
46.11%;
National Council--last held 7 October 1990 (next to be
held October 1994);
results--SP0 43%, OVP 32.1%, FPO 16.6%, GAL 4.5%, KPO 0.7%,
other 0.32%;
seats--(183 total) SP0 80, OVP 60, FP0 33, GAL 10
Other political or pressure groups: Federal Chamber of Commerce and
Industry; Austrian Trade Union Federation (primarily Socialist); three
composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party (OVP) representing
business, labor, and farmers; OVP-oriented League of Austrian
Industrialists; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay
organization, Catholic Action
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Friedrich HOESS; Embassy at
2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202)
483-4474; there are Austrian Consulates General in Chicago, Los Angeles,
and New York;
US--Ambassador Roy Michael HUFFINGTON; Embassy at Boltzmanngasse
16, A-1091, Vienna (mailing address is APO New York 09108-0001);
telephone 43 (222) 31-55-11; there is a US Consulate General in Salzburg
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red
ECONOMY
Overview: Austria boasts a prosperous and stable capitalist
economy with a sizable proportion of nationalized industry and extensive
welfare benefits. Thanks to an excellent raw material endowment, a
technically skilled labor force, and strong links to West German
industrial firms, Austria has successfully occupied specialized niches
in European industry and services (tourism, banking) and produces almost
enough food to feed itself with only 8% of the labor force in
agriculture. Improved export prospects from German unification
and the opening of Eastern Europe will also boost the economy during
the next few years. Living standards are roughly comparable with the
large industrial countries of Western Europe. Problems for the l990s
include an aging population, the high level of subsidies, and the
struggle to keep welfare benefits within budget capabilities. Austria,
which has applied for EC membership, is currently involved in EC and
European Free Trade Association negotiations for a European Economic
Area and will have to adapt its economy to achieve freer movement of
goods, services, capital, and labor with the EC.
GDP: $111.0 billion, per capita $14,500; real growth rate 4.5%
(1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.3% (1990)
Unemployment: 5.4% (1990)
Budget: revenues $44.1 billion; expenditures $49.6 billion,
including capital expenditures of $NA (1990)
Exports: $40.9 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities--machinery and equipment, iron and steel, lumber,
textiles, paper products, chemicals;
partners--EC 64.8%, EFTA 10.3%, CEMA 7.7%, US 3.2%, Japan 1.5%
Imports: $46.6 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities--petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and equipment,
vehicles, chemicals, textiles and clothing, pharmaceuticals;
partners--EC 68.4%, EFTA 7%, CEMA 5.7%, Japan 4.6%, US 3.6%
External debt: $11.8 billion (1990 est.)
Industrial production: real growth rate 8.5% (1990); accounts
for 34% of GDP
Electricity: 17,562,000 kW capacity; 49,290 million kWh produced,
6,500 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: foods, iron and steel, machines, textiles, chemicals,
electrical, paper and pulp, tourism, mining
Agriculture: accounts for 3.2% of GDP (including forestry);
principal crops and animals--grains, fruit, potatoes, sugar beets,
sawn wood, cattle, pigs poultry; 80-90% self-sufficient in food
Economic aid: donor--ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $2.4
billion
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 6,028 km total; 5,388 km government owned and 640 km
privately owned (1.435- and 1.000-meter gauge); 5,403 km 1.435-meter
standard gauge of which 3,051 km is electrified and 1,520 km is double
tracked; 363 km 0.760-meter narrow gauge of which 91 km is electrified
Highways: 95,412 km total; 34,612 are the primary network
(including 1,012 km of autobahn, 10,400 km of federal, and 23,200 km of
provincial roads); of this number, 21,812 km are paved and 12,800 km are
unpaved; in addition, there are 60,800 km of communal roads (mostly
gravel, crushed stone, earth)
Inland waterways: 446 km
Ports: Vienna, Linz (river ports)
Merchant marine: 32 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
150,735 GRT/252,237 DWT; includes 26 cargo, 1 container, 1 chemical
tanker, 4 bulk
Pipelines: 554 km crude oil; 2,611 km natural gas; 171 km refined
products
Civil air: 25 major transport aircraft
Airports: 55 total, 54 usable; 20 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 5 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 4 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: highly developed and efficient; 4,014,000
telephones; extensive TV and radiobroadcast systems; stations--6 AM, 21
(545 repeaters) FM, 47 (870 repeaters) TV; satellite stations operating
in INTELSAT 1 Atlantic Ocean earth station and 1 Indian Ocean earth
station and EUTELSAT systems
