Press release: 12.529-120/21

Immigration ensured population growth in 2020 despite high number of deaths

Vienna, 2021-05-27 – According to final results of Statistics Austria, 8 932 664 people lived in Austria on 1 January 2021. Compared to the beginning of 2020, this represents an increase of 31 600 inhabitants (+0.36%). Population growth thus was a bit lower than in the year before (2019: +42 289 people or +0.48%) and resulted exclusively from net immigration from abroad of +40 064 people. The birth balance, however, was negative due to the sharp increase in the number of deaths in 2020 (-7 996 people) and significantly dampened overall population growth.

In 2020, the number of live births amounted to 83 603, while 91 599 people died, as Statistics Austria reports on the basis of final figures. This resulted in a natural population decrease of 7 996 and corresponded to nine births and ten deaths per 1 000 inhabitants. These figures also include 653 live births and 1 683 deaths of Austrian residents occurring abroad during 2020. Compared to 2019, the number of births decreased by 1 349 (-1.6%) and the number of deaths increased by 8 213 (+9.8%).

In 2020, 136 343 immigrations to and 96 279 emigrations from Austria resulted in an international net migration gain of 40 064 inhabitants. While the number of international migrations was lower than in the previous year – which may be explained by a limited mobility due to Covid-19 – the net migration gain remained on the same level (2019: +40 613 people with 150 419 immigrations and 96 279 emigrations). Three quarters of Austria’s net migration gain of foreign citizens originated from other countries within the European Union, EFTA-States or the United Kingdom (+31 801). Only one quarter was generated by third country nationals (+10 100), of whom 46% came from other European countries (4 632 people).

For more detailed information please refer to the German version.