Austria 



Facts
Background: Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995 have altered the meaning of this neutrality. A prosperous, democratic country, Austria entered the EU Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.
Location: Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia
Area land: 82,445 sq km
Area water: 1,426 sq km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Country name conventional long form: Republic of Austria
Country name conventional short form: Austria
Country name former: Republic of Austria
Population: 8,217,280 (July 2011 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 14% (male 590,855/female 563,300); 15-64 years: 67.7% (male 2,793,725/female 2,769,840); 65 years and over: 18.2% (male 627,456/female 872,104) (2011 est.);
Population growth rate: 0.034% (2011 est.)
Birth rate: 8.67 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Death rate: 10.14 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)
Net migration rate: 1.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.051 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female; total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2011 est.);
Infant mortality rate: total: 4.32 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 5.23 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 3.35 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.);
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 79.78 years; male: 76.87 years; female: 82.84 years (2011 est.);
Total fertility rate: 1.4 children born/woman (2011 est.);
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.3% (2009 est.);
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 15,000 (2009 est.);
HIV/AIDS - deaths: fewer than 100 (2009 est.);
Nationality: noun: Austrian(s); adjective: Austrian;
Ethnic groups: Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4% (2001 census);
Religions: Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12% (2001 census);
Languages: German (official nationwide) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, other (includes Slovene, official in Carinthia, and Hungarian, official in Burgenland) 5.3% (2001 census);
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 98%; male: NA; female: NA;
GDP (purchasing power parity): $332.6 billion (2010 est.); $326 billion (2009 est.); $339.3 billion (2008 est.);
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate): $366.3 billion (2010 est.);
GDP - real growth rate: 2% (2010 est.); -3.9% (2009 est.); 2.2% (2008 est.);
GDP - per capita (PPP): $40,300 (2010 est.); $39,800 (2009 est.); $41,300 (2008 est.);
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 1.5%; industry: 29.4%; services: 69.1% (2010 est.);
Population below poverty line: 6% (2008);
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 4%; highest 10%: 22% (2007);
Labor force: 3.7 million (2010 est.);
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 5.5%; industry: 27.5%; services: 67% (2009 est.);
Unemployment rate: 4.5% (2010 est.); 4.8% (2009 est.);
Budget: revenues: $172.1 billion; expenditures: $189.4 billion (2010 est.);
Industries: construction, machinery, vehicles and parts, food, metals, chemicals, lumber and wood processing, paper and paperboard, communications equipment, tourism;
Industrial production growth rate: 7% (2010 est.);
Electricity - production: 68.85 billion kWh (2009 est.);
Electricity - consumption: 65.67 billion kWh (2009 est.);
Electricity - exports: 18.76 billion kWh (2009 est.);
Electricity - imports: 19.54 billion kWh (2009 est.);
Press
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Displaying 1 to 7 of 11 items.
(Liberal), Vienna
http://DerStandard.at/
(Conservative), Vienna
http://www.diepresse.at
(Liberal, Catholic-oriented), Graz
http://www.kleinezeitung.at/
(Centrist), Vienna
http://www.kurier.at/
(Mass-circulation), Vienna
http://www.krone.at/
(Weekly magazine), Vienna
http://www.news.at/magazin/
(Centrist), Linz
http://www.nachrichten.at/
Austria in the News
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Displaying 5 to 6 of 6 items.
Joanna Griffin reviews European press coverage of former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s draft Constitution for the European Union.
"A dysfunctional nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic has created a noisy stir and has almost brought the Austrian government down. Tekla Szymanski reviews the Czech and Austrian press.