Austria’s birth balance remains negative. A slight population growth of 0.4 percent in 2024 resulted from international immigration and led to 9,197,213 people living in Austria on 1 January of the current year – around 20 percent of them foreign nationals. The number of deaths in 2024 exceeded the number of live births by 11,248, as emerges from the final results of the population statistics from Statistics Austria.
Accordingly, about 50,000 more people moved to Austria from abroad than emigrated. “The birth balance, however, was negative for the fifth consecutive year with a minus of around 11,000 persons and dampened population growth,” said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas in a press release on Monday. Only Vienna (plus 2,153), Vorarlberg (277) and Tyrol (108) recorded a positive birth balance.
Regional Growth and Decline
In 2023 Austria’s population had still grown by 53,978 persons or 0.6 percent. In the federal capital Vienna there was the strongest population growth in 2024 at plus 1.1 percent; the smallest increase was in Carinthia (plus 0.1 percent), while Burgenland recorded a slight population decline (minus 0.1 percent).
In 2024 a total of 77,238 children were born, 0.5 percent fewer than in 2023. Thus the absolute number of live births reached its lowest level since 2009. The total fertility rate in 2024 stood at 1.31 children per woman, slightly below the previous year’s 1.32 and reaching a new low. By contrast, in the same year 88,486 persons died, 1.4 percent fewer than in the previous year.
Life expectancy at birth was 79.8 years for men and 84.3 years for women. Compared to the previous year it increased by 0.4 years for men and by 0.1 years for women. In 2024 too a west-east gradient by federal state was apparent, with higher life expectancy registered in the western regions.
Two-Thirds of Immigrants Third-Country Nationals
Net immigration of persons without Austrian citizenship (plus 55,767) in 2024 comprised almost one-third (32 percent) nationals of an EU or EFTA state or the United Kingdom and just over two-thirds (68 percent) from other third countries. Among EU and EFTA nationals the highest balances were from Germany (plus 7,566), Hungary (4,359) and Croatia (1,601). Among third-country nationals the highest were Syrian (10,415), Ukrainian (7,460) and Chinese (2,301) citizens.
The migration balance with abroad of non-Austrian nationals in 2024 was 55 percent female and 45 percent male. By age, immigration concentrated on younger people: the strongest migration gains were among non-Austrian nationals aged 15 to 29 (30,036).
On 1 January 2025 a total of 1,855,419 people with non-Austrian nationality were living in Austria, 54,553 more than on 1 January 2024 (1,800,866 people). The share of foreign nationals in the total population thus rose from 19.7 percent at the start of 2024 to 20.2 percent at the start of 2025. Vienna has the highest share of non-Austrian nationals at 36.4 percent; the lowest share is in Burgenland with 11.5 percent.
