More Than a Quarter of Austria’s Residents Now From a Migrant Background
9th July 2024
An integration report released by the Austrian government on Monday has revealed how much mass migration is changing the face of the country, with 27.2% of residents hailing from a foreign background—first-generation immigrants or born in Austria to foreign parents—up from 19.4% in 2013. However, ministers of the centre-right and Green coalition government are calling for continued immigration.
Germans (232,700), Romanians (153,400), and Turks (124,100) topped the ranks of major migrant populations in the report compiled by Austrian authorities. The same report shows how 112,300 people applied for asylum in 2022 alone, driven by a surge in Afghan and Syrian migrants.
“Austria is only growing due to immigration,” declared Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria, upon the release of this week’s report. Centre-right integration minister Susanne Rabb of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) was quick to use the findings as evidence for the need for more immigration, with the Austrian population expected to break 10 million by mid-century despite a declining birth rate of 1.48 children per woman.