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On the occasion of Austria’s National Day, the Integration Fund has analyzed the city’s demographic structure and compared it with data from 2015, the year before the refugee crisis.
Vienna has long been a melting pot of cultures, but in recent years, change has accelerated dramatically. No other federal state has transformed as much in the past decade. According to the latest brochure from the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF), “Bundesländer 2025” (“Federal States 2025”), as of January 1, 2025, around 829,800 residents of Vienna were born abroad—accounting for 40.9 percent of the city’s population.
This makes Vienna the most diverse region in Austria. For comparison, in 2015 the share of residents born abroad was 33.1 percent – an increase of nearly 40 percent in just ten years. More than two-thirds (64.6 percent) of these immigrants come from outside the European Union. The largest communities originate from Serbia (87,700 people), Turkey (67,300), and Germany (64,700), followed by Syria, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Romania.
The report also highlights stark differences between districts. In Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus (15th district), 50.7 percent of residents were born abroad – one in two people. Similarly high proportions are found in Brigittenau (49.9 percent) and Favoriten (48.8 percent). At the other end of the scale, Hietzing and Liesing have the lowest shares, with roughly three in ten residents born abroad.
Every Second Schoolchild Speaks a First Language Other Than German
The city’s transformation is evident in its classrooms. One in two schoolchildren (50 percent) in Vienna speaks a first language other than German. In the 2013/14 school year, that figure stood at 46.8 percent. The proportions are highest in polytechnic schools (78.3 percent), followed by new middle schools (75.8 percent) and elementary schools (60.5 percent).
These figures underline the central role of integration in education—and show that academic success still depends heavily on language skills and a student’s background.
Unemployment Twice as High Among Migrant
The labor market reflects similar disparities. In 2024, 16.8 percent of foreign nationals in Vienna were unemployed—more than double the rate among Austrian citizens (8.4 percent). Both figures exceed the national averages (10.6 and 5.7 percent, respectively).
Income differences are equally striking. The average net annual income of all employees in Vienna was €31,400. Austrians earned €34,100, while immigrants earned just €26,500 – roughly 22 percent less than their Austrian counterparts.
A Young but Divided City
Vienna remains demographically young, mainly due to immigration. The average number of children per woman is 1.22, rising to 1.46 among women born abroad. The rate is exceptionally high among women from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq (3.56 children), while native Viennese women average just 1.03 children.
Vienna thus continues to embody Austria’s contrasts: a city that is young, international, and dynamic—yet deeply divided along social and economic lines.
- hector pascua with reports from krone.at/picture: pixabay.com
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