Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0023/00235.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 24KB | 425 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00235}
$Pretitle{376}
$Title{Austria
The Country and its People}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Federal Press Service}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Austria, Washington DC}
$Subject{austria
miles
province
austria's
pop
austrian
sq
lower
vienna
festival}
$Date{1988}
$Log{Regions of Austria*0023501.scf
}
Country:     Austria
Book:        Austria Facts and Figures
Author:      Federal Press Service
Affiliation: Embassy of Austria, Washington DC
Date:        1988

The Country and its People

[See Regions of Austria: Courtesy Embassy of Austria, Washington DC.]

     Austria is situated in southern central Europe, covering a part of the
eastern Alps and the Danube region; although it is land-locked, it borders on
the Mediterranean area. The country has a wide variety of landscape,
vegetation and climate and, situated as it is at the heart of a continent, it
has always been a junction for communications links between the trade and
cultural centres of Europe.

     Austria is a federal state with a total area of 32,367 sq. miles (83,855
sq. km) and consists of nine provinces - Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria,
Salzburg, Styria, Tirol, Upper Austria, Vienna and Vorarlberg. Austria has
common borders with no fewer than seven other countries. These neighbouring
states have varying social and economic systems. Their inhabitants belong to
the major European ethnic groups: the Germanic, Neo-Latin and Slav peoples
(the Magyars of Hungary are an exception, deriving from the Ural-Altaic
group).

     Austria's border has an overall length of 1,682 miles. Of these, 509
miles are shared with the Federal Republic of Germany, 355 miles with
Czechoslovakia, 220 miles with Hungary, 205 miles with Yugoslavia, 267 miles
with Italy, 104 miles with Switzerland and 22 miles with Liechtenstein.

The Landscape

     The Austrian landscape falls into five sections:

Eastern Alps 20,332 sq. miles = 62.8%

Alpine and Carpathian Foothills 3,658 sq. miles = 11.3%

Pannonian Lowlands 3,658 sq. miles = 11.3%

Vienna Basin 1,424 sq. miles = 4.4%

Granite and Gneiss Highlands (Bohemian Massif) 3,269 sq. miles = 10.1%

     Austria's highest mountain is the Grossglockner (12,465 ft). On its way
from the Black Forest in southern Germany to the Black Sea the Danube flows
some 220 miles of its course through Austria.

     A Austria, AL Albania, B Belgium, BG Bulgaria, CH Switzerland, CS
Czechoslovakia, D Federal Republic of Germany, DDR German Democratic Republic,
DK Denmark, F France, GB Great Britain, GR Greece, H Hungary, I Italy,
L Luxemburg, NL Netherlands, PL Poland, R Romania, S Sweden, SU Soviet Union,
YU Yugoslavia.

Climate, Vegetation and Fauna

     Austria belongs to the central European transitional climatic zone. The
oceanic influence of the Atlantic is felt more strongly in the West, the
continental influence more strongly in the East. In much of Austria the
prevailing winds are westerly and northwesterly. In the West of the country
temperature variations between day and night and between summer and winter are
less pronounced than in the East. Adequate precipitation figures are
registered throughout the country, although they are markedly lower in the
East. Austria as a whole can be divided into three climatic regions. The East
has a Continental Pannonian climate (mean temperature for July usually above
19C, annual rainfall often less than 800 mm). The central Alpine
region has the characteristic features of the Alpine climate (high
precipitation, short summers and long winters). The remainder of the country
belongs to the transitional central European climatic zone (wet, temperate,
mean temperature for July 14-19C, annual precipitation 700-2,000 mm
depending on location, exposure and altitude).

     The variety of Austria's geography and climate has led to a
correspondingly wide range of vegetation, in which the main groups coincide to
a great extent with the different climatic regions. The woods in Austria's
lower regions consist of the standard central European mixture of oak and
beech, giving way to beech and fir above 1600 ft. Fir predominates above 4000
ft and in turn gives way to larch and stonepine. Austria is one of Europe's
most heavily wooded countries, with 44% of its total area accounted for by
forests. In the Alpine foreland, the forests are replaced to a great extent by
arable land, especially on the northern edge of the Alps, where from a height
of about 2000 ft there is predominantly grassland. Characteristic of the
Pannonian region are scrub, mixed deciduous wood and heathland. To the east
of Lake Neusiedl in the Burgenland one can find typical saltsteppe flora.

     Austrian wildlife is characteristic of central Europe: red deer, roe
deer, hare, fox, badger, marten, squirrel, pheasant, partridge etc. Typical
Alpine fauna are to be found in the higher mountains: chamois, marmot, Alpine
chough and so on. The ibex is also breeding here again.

     Typical of Pannonian wildlife is the vast bird population of the reed
beds which surround Lake Neusiedl, central Europe's only steppe lake (purple
heron, spoonbill, avocet).

Population

     According to the latest census, conducted in 1981, Austria has a
population of 7,555,338. This represented an increase of some 100,000 since
1971. According to the annual average for 1981, 3,580,000 of the population
were male, 3,975,000 female, i.e. 113 women for every 100 men. For those born
in 1981 average life expectancy for men was 69.5, for women 76.6. Thanks to
improvements in the medical and social services there has been a steady
increase in life expectancy.

     Austria's population is 98% German-speaking. In the provinces of
Carinthia and Burgenland there are two ethnic groups whose rights are
guaranteed by the terms of article 7 of the Austrian State Treaty of 1955.
Some 84% of the Austrian population are Roman Catholic while a further 6% are
Protestant, most of them belonging to the Augsburg confession. About 4% belong
to other groups while the remaining 6% are non-denominational.

The Provinces

     Centuries of history have given each of the Austrian provinces a specific
ethnic, economic and cultural character of its own. But the country's
topographical variety also played a part in establishing these characters.
There are marked variations in climate and vegetation which in turn are
reflected in the different provinces' ways of life, their dialects, their
customs and their traditional dress.

     The provincial capitals, such as Graz, Innsbruck or Salzburg, are
regional centres of historic and cultural development. As former
administrative focal points, they have played an important part in the story
of Austria. The same is true of course to an even greater extent of the
Austrian federal capital, Vienna, which was for centuries the hub of a
multinational European empire.

Burgenland

     (1,530 sq. miles, pop. 272,274) Austria's easternmost province shares a
common border with Lower Austria and Styria. In accordance with the terms of
the Treaty of St. Germain in 1919, it was formed in 1921 from German-speaking
border areas of what had previously been Hungary. The Burgenland is a
predominantly agricultural province, its main products being wheat, maize,
vegetables, fruit and a large variety of renowned wines. Canning factories
have been established near the main agricultural production centres.

     The attractive countryside ensures a steady flow of visitors. Lake
Neusiedl is central Europe's only steppe lake. The small provincial capital,
Eisenstadt (pop. approximately 10,000), was for many years the home of Joseph
Haydn, who is buried there in the unusual Bergkirche, or hill-side church. In
July and August operettas are performed on the lake stage in Morbisch on Lake
Neusiedl. The Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival takes place in July.

Carinthia

     (3,680 sq. miles, pop. 536,727) Carinthia is Austria's southernmost
province. Surrounded by high mountains, it consists itself of the mountainous
Upper Carinthia in the west