In 2019, 123 039 driver's licences were issued for
the first time or additional driving authorizations were granted. According
to Statistics Austria, this corresponds to an increase of 4% or 4 989
driver's licences compared to 2018 (118 050). With these driver's licences,
142 238
The highest increase
The federal states of Upper Austria and Lower Austria
accounted for over 82% of the growth in F-class driving authorizations
C-class driving licences (2019: 10 525) rose up to 32% compared to the previous year, especially in the months from January to July, while they mostly declined in the months from August to December. In 2019, the increase of 1 003 C-class grants is regionally concentrated to 83% (833 grants) in the federal states of Upper Austria (40%), Lower Austria (24%) and Tyrol (19%).
In 2019, the number of D-class driving authorizations
increased by 8% up to 1 532; this stopped the declines in 2017
Since 2006 (20%) the share of driving licences acquired
in the form of the L17 driver's licence to the total number of acquired
car driving licences (B-class) has been rising steadily to 32% in 2019.
The number of L17 driving authorizations (2019: 26 451) increased by
6% compared to 2018 (2018:
While on the one hand the results of the driving licence statistics indicate a long-term trend towards the increasingly preferred choice of the L17 car driving licence, on the other hand there is a change in the age structure in the group of driving licence owners of the regular B-class (from 18 years). While the average age of persons was still 19.9 years in 2006, the regular B-class was granted at an average age of 21.6 years in 2019. Age differences are also evident in the federal states, ranging from an average of 20.4 years in Burgenland to 21.1 years in Styria and 24.0 years in Vienna.
The AM-class for mopeds was introduced as part of
the 14 amendment of the Driving Licence Law in 2013 and replaced the
moped identification card. Since then, the number of annual grants (2019:
28 438) of the AM-class has fallen continuously – with the exception
of 2014
For more detailed results and further information please refer to the German version.
Notice:
Reform of the theoretical driver's licence test: Since 1 June 2019, a comprehensive reformed catalogue of questions for the theoretical driver's licence test for the F-class has been in use. To a lesser extent, this reform also affects the theoretical driver's licence exams of driving authorization classes C and D.
Definitions:
Time series: Acquired driving licences by classes, 2010 to 2019 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Time series: New and extended driving licences by federal state of the issuing authority 2010 to 2019 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |