The share of people living in Austria who were born abroad has risen by 4.6 percentage points over the past decade, shaped in part by the war in Syria and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the start of this year, 2.1 million people, nearly 23 per cent of Austria’s population were born outside the country.
Data from the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) show that migration is largely an urban phenomenon. Cities and their districts attract far more foreign-born residents than rural regions.
The figures also challenge the assumption that most migrants come from classic refugee countries. Many were born elsewhere in Europe, including EU member states and associated countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. Nevertheless, 56 per cent come from third countries, including Serbia, Turkey, Syria and Afghanistan.
Vienna stands out most clearly. More than 65.1 per cent of the capital’s foreign born residents come from third countries. In provinces such as Burgenland, Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol, they are in the minority.
Across Austria, the district with the highest share of foreign-born residents is usually home to the provincial capital or largest city. Vienna leads with 41.3 per cent, followed by Wels City at 36.9 per cent. Salzburg City and Innsbruck City each record 36.2 per cent.
Rural districts tell a different story. Zwettl in Lower Austria has a share of just 3.8 per cent, while Freistadt in Upper Austria records 5.4 per cent.
Among the provinces, Vorarlberg has the highest foreign-born share after Vienna, at 23.7 per cent, followed by Salzburg at 22.2 per cent and Tyrol at 21.5 per cent. Burgenland has the lowest, at 13.9 per cent.
The settlement patterns of different communities also vary. Germans and people with roots in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Turkey are prominent across much of Austria. Germans are especially present in Salzburg and Tyrol, while Hungarians form the largest foreign-born group in Burgenland.
In Vienna, people from traditional “guest worker” countries, particularly Serbia and Turkey, remain the largest groups. Yet the Syrian-born population has grown tenfold in a decade, becoming the fourth-largest group after Germans.
Further change is expected through birth rates. In 2025, women born in Austria had an average of 1.19 children, compared with 1.57 for women born abroad. Women born in Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq had 3.37 children on average. In Vienna, two districts Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus and Brigittenau already have majorities of residents born abroad.
