More than a quarter of Austrian population has a migration background

More than a quarter (27.2%) of the Austrian population has a migration background, new data from Statistics Austria has found.

In 2023, some 2.45 million people in Austria had a migration background, up by 35.1%, from 1.81 million, in 2015, reflecting increased immigration into the country in recent years.

The largest groups of foreign citizens in Austria are from Germany (232,700), Romania (153,400), and Turkey (124,100), while the most significant increases since 2015 are from Syria, Romania, Ukraine, Germany, and Hungary, the data showed.

‘Sense of belonging’

Nearly three-quarters (72.8%) of immigrants feel a strong ‘sense of belonging’ to Austria, with the strongest feelings among those from Syria (80.8%), Iran (80.5%), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (76.8%). The sense of belonging increases with the length of stay – some 81.0% of those who have lived in Austria for more than 15 years feel a sense of belonging, compared to 55.7% of those with a stay of one to five years.

Less than a quarter (23.2%) of Austrians rate coexistence with migrants as ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’, while 40.2% view it as ‘fairly bad’ or ‘very bad.’ Critical views have increased over the past two years. Conversely, 55.8% of immigrants rate coexistence as ‘very good’ or ‘rather good’, though this is a decrease from the previous year’s 61.3%.

Language use

Statistics Austria’s study also assessed language use among immigrants, with some 12.9% of immigrants primarily using German at home, and 24.5% use it predominantly among friends.

Good German language skills are most common among immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina (72.0%), Serbia (67.7%), and Iran (67.6%). The lowest proficiency is among those from Ukraine (36.9%), Turkey (51.2%), and Syria (58.1%).

The top nationalities for immigrants in 2024 are Germany (232,739), Romania (153,427), Turkey (124,068), Serbia (122,204), Hungary (107,264), Croatia (106,679), Bosnia and Herzegovina (99,837), Syria (95,180), Ukraine (80,665), Poland (67,930), Afghanistan (49,818), Slovakia (49,782), Bulgaria (39,830), Italy (39,435), and the Russian Federation (37,332).