Vienna will 'soon' reach two million residents
Austrian capital Vienna, and the country's largest city, is about to reach the milestone of two million residents thanks to immigration.
Vienna could reach the two-million mark earlier than expected - as early as this year and not just in 2027 since the city grew faster last year than in decades.
This is mainly due to immigration, particularly from people who fled the war in Ukraine. As a result, four out of ten people living in Vienna were not born in Austria. The increase is also distributed differently in Vienna itself. For example, the most significant increase in the foreign-born population is in Donaustadt, with 4.4 percent.
"In 2022, Vienna will have grown by about 50,000 people due to immigration. Half of this is due to immigration from Ukraine," Ramon Bauer, head of Vienna's provincial statistics, told Wien Heute. A quarter of the growth is also due to immigrants from the countries from which many refugees also came in 2015 - primarily Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.
READ ALSO: Nine things you need to know when relocating to Vienna
Vienna once had more than two million inhabitants, as the 1910 census counted 2.08 million residents in the Austrian capital.
As of January 1, 2023, 1,982,000 people lived in the city. According to current figures, 18,000 people are missing to reach the two-million mark.
However, the situation in Ukraine makes forecasting difficult because it is unclear whether people will stay in Vienna, go back, or more will come. In any case, it is clear that the influx is making the capital a young city.
"Regarding the average age, we're just over 41 right now. All the other federal states are older. Vienna's strongest age group is primarily the 20 to 40 generation. This is mainly due to immigration," says Bauer.
Who are the Viennese?
The latest data for the Austrian capital shows that most people living in Vienna, some 16 percent of them, were born in Austria.
READ ALSO: IN NUMBERS: The Vienna districts where most foreigners live
About nine percent of the residents in Vienna were born in an eastern EU country (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia).
The second-largest group of nationalities (eight percent of the Viennese population) is of former-Yugoslavia countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, and Serbia - the list excludes EU members Croatia and Slovenia.
Some five percent were born in "2015/16 refugee countries", meaning Afghanistan, Syrian, Iran and Iraq. Finally, a significant number of people living in Vienna were born in Germany or Turkey (three percent each).
READ ALSO: Ten essential apps to download for living in Vienna
According to 2022 statistics, most Viennese (51.1 percent) are women. They usually get married when they are 31 (compared to 25 years old in 1990), while men wed at 33 years old, on average. According to City statistics, mothers are usually 31 years old when they give birth to their first child.
Only 67.8 percent have Austrian nationality (EU citizens account for 14.1 percent while non-EU totalled 18 percent).
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Vienna could reach the two-million mark earlier than expected - as early as this year and not just in 2027 since the city grew faster last year than in decades.
This is mainly due to immigration, particularly from people who fled the war in Ukraine. As a result, four out of ten people living in Vienna were not born in Austria. The increase is also distributed differently in Vienna itself. For example, the most significant increase in the foreign-born population is in Donaustadt, with 4.4 percent.
"In 2022, Vienna will have grown by about 50,000 people due to immigration. Half of this is due to immigration from Ukraine," Ramon Bauer, head of Vienna's provincial statistics, told Wien Heute. A quarter of the growth is also due to immigrants from the countries from which many refugees also came in 2015 - primarily Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.
READ ALSO: Nine things you need to know when relocating to Vienna
Vienna once had more than two million inhabitants, as the 1910 census counted 2.08 million residents in the Austrian capital.
As of January 1, 2023, 1,982,000 people lived in the city. According to current figures, 18,000 people are missing to reach the two-million mark.
However, the situation in Ukraine makes forecasting difficult because it is unclear whether people will stay in Vienna, go back, or more will come. In any case, it is clear that the influx is making the capital a young city.
"Regarding the average age, we're just over 41 right now. All the other federal states are older. Vienna's strongest age group is primarily the 20 to 40 generation. This is mainly due to immigration," says Bauer.
Who are the Viennese?
The latest data for the Austrian capital shows that most people living in Vienna, some 16 percent of them, were born in Austria.
READ ALSO: IN NUMBERS: The Vienna districts where most foreigners live
About nine percent of the residents in Vienna were born in an eastern EU country (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia).
The second-largest group of nationalities (eight percent of the Viennese population) is of former-Yugoslavia countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, and Serbia - the list excludes EU members Croatia and Slovenia.
Some five percent were born in "2015/16 refugee countries", meaning Afghanistan, Syrian, Iran and Iraq. Finally, a significant number of people living in Vienna were born in Germany or Turkey (three percent each).
READ ALSO: Ten essential apps to download for living in Vienna
According to 2022 statistics, most Viennese (51.1 percent) are women. They usually get married when they are 31 (compared to 25 years old in 1990), while men wed at 33 years old, on average. According to City statistics, mothers are usually 31 years old when they give birth to their first child.
Only 67.8 percent have Austrian nationality (EU citizens account for 14.1 percent while non-EU totalled 18 percent).
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