Central European state. The population registered by the 2001 census amounted to 8,032,926 residents, while the estimates for 2005 see it to be around 8.2 million (just under 100 residents per km 2). As in the case of the other more industrialized countries, the Austrian population shows a natural growth of negligible size and a tendency to aging, with low birth rates (around 9% in 2005) and mortality rates (close to 10%). However, the country continued to demonstrate during the early years of the 21st° sec. a slow demographic progression, following the immigration movements experienced since the 1990s, coming from the countries of the Balkan area and Turkey: according to estimates, the net migration balance in 2005 is around 2%. Immigrants from the Balkan area represent 4 % of the total population, followed by those from Turkey (1.6 %). The percentage of the rural population is still high (34.2 % in 2003). For Austria religion and languages, please check ezinereligion.com.
Austrian economic development is not unlike that found in other advanced countries. At the end of the nineties, a ten-year privatization process was concluded which involved various sectors, among which above all those of energy, transport and telecommunications: the State is still strongly present in some of them, but it distributes less and less subsidies to companies, in compliance with the European Union directives on competition. The Austrian GDP is characterized by a significant weight of services and industry: the first representing in 2004 more than 2 / 3 of the value added and employment, while industry covers 30 approximately% of GDP, unlike the economies of other advanced countries, in which this sector is characterized by a progressive decrease in its relative weight. The manufacturing industry is mainly characterized by the production of intermediate goods, in particular components for car factories and machinery. The growth of high-tech companies is important, although expenditure on research and development is relatively low when compared with the rest of Europe.
Agriculture is around 2 % of GDP: productivity is high, and guarantees total coverage of domestic food needs. Tourism is highly developed: in 2004, with over 19.3 million visitors, the country was in tenth place in the world for number of visitors. The unemployment rate remains at low levels: according to estimates it is around 4 %. As regards inflation, the rate, after a gradual decline from 2.7 % in 2001 to 1.4 % in 2003, has started to grow again, and for 2005 it is estimated at around 2%.%. The trade balance has progressively reduced its deficit since 2000, and has shown a positive balance since 2002. The accession to the Austria the European Union (1995) was followed by economic policies based on austerity, through restrictive budgetary maneuvers, in order to achieve those objectives of harmonization of the main macroeconomic indicators that had been established by the Maastricht Treaty. These interventions were mainly aimed at reducing the deficit and the debt-to-GDP ratio, through the rationalization of public spending and the launch of new privatization processes.
Austria officially adopted the European currency, the euro, as its currency starting from 1 January 2002. Among its main trading partners in Europe, Austria it mainly includes Germany, followed by Italy. The low growth rates recorded in the late nineties first by Germany and then by the rest of the world, in the early 21st century. have also slowed down that of the Austria, which went from values of around 3.5 % in 2000 to around 0.7 % in 2003, to then rise again in 2004 to 1.9%. However, the entrance to the Austria in the EU it has strengthened its ties with other member countries, and has made it an important transit area for trade between Germany and the northern area of Europe on the one hand, and Italy and the Mediterranean countries on the one hand. other. Due to his position, in fact, the Austria it is placed at the center of the large TEN-T (Trans European Network-Transport) transport infrastructure projects, aimed at facilitating exchanges between European countries in order to improve their integration. For the Austria this is true both in reference to the countries belonging to the EU and to those of the central and south-eastern area of the continent, favored by the new geopolitical structures. Consequently, a new centrality is expected for the country.2 % of GDP, more favorable than that of Germany.
