Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. This neutrality, once ingrained as part of the Austrian cultural identity, has been called into question since the Soviet collapse of 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995. A prosperous country, Austria entered the European Monetary Union in 1999.

iron ore, oil, timber, magnesite, lead, coal, lignite, copper, hydropower

arable land: 16.89%
permanent crops: 0.99%
other: 82.12% (1998 est.)

8,188,207 (July 2003 est.)

German 88%, non-nationals 9.3% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Roma), naturalized 2% (includes those who have lived in Austria at least three generations)

Roman Catholic 78%, Protestant 5%, Muslim and other 17%

German

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: NA%
female: NA%

Vienna

federal republic

1156 (from Bavaria)

National Day, 26 October (1955); note - commemorates the State Treaty restoring national sovereignty and the end of occupation and the passage of the law on permanent neutrality