Austria in Europe , also called Österreich in German, is a landlocked country of Central Europe that shares boundaries with Germany and the Czech Republic in the north, Slovakia and Hungary in the east, Slovenia and Italy in the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein in the west. Its capital city of the Republic of Austria is Vienna. It is also the largest city of the country.
The origin of Austria dates back to the ninth century. Since then Upper and Lower lands of Austrian countryside became increasingly populated. Austria became an independent nation only on the July 27, 1955. One of the main members of the European Union, its accreditation was obtained on January 1, 1995 the official language of Austria is German with other minority languages of Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian. Under the presidentship of Mr. Heinz Fischer, Austria holds a population of 83,871 square km.
Austria contributed $275.02 billion to the share of Europe's Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Austria ranks in the 34 th position in the top GDP contributors' chart and 8 th in Per Capita Income list of Europe , having a share of $33,615. It is also the 99 th densest country of Europe having 99 people per square km. The telephone code of Austria is +43.
The German name Österreich was translated from the English phrase of the "eastern empire" or "eastern realm". Later the world was latinized as "Austria". During the monarchy, Austria was known as the Austrian Empire.
Austria is divided into 9 different states of:
- Burgenland
- Carinthia / Kärnten
- Salzburg
- Lower Austria / Niederösterreich
- Upper Austria / Oberösterreich
- Vorarlberg
- Steiermark
- Tirol
- Vienna / Wien
Topographically, Austria of Central Europe is one of the largest mountainous countries that is mainly overlapped by Alpian ranges. The Central Eastern Alps, Northern Limestone Alps and Southern Limestone Alps fall under this part of Europe . Austria covers a surface area of 84 000 square km of central Europe. The low lying region of this European nation accounts to only a quarter of the total area, whereas, 32% lies below 500 meters. The high mountainous Alps in the west of Austria flatten somewhat into low lands and plains in the east of the country.
Austrian climate is cool and temperate type featured with humid westerly winds. The Alpine climate hovers around the mountainous plains and the East Austrian country consists of Pannonian Plain along the Danube valley, which faces continental climatic characteristics with lesser rain.
The six highest peaks of Austrian European are:
- Großglockner
- Großvenediger
- Weißkugel
- Großes Wiesbachhorn
- Similaun
- Wildspitze
Austria is a social market economy that demands for a high standard of living. Until the 1980s,
Austria hosted the largest nationalized industrial firms of
Europe . Later, however, introduction of privatization policies imposed the reduction of state holdings, compared to other
European economies. Nevertheless,
Austria is famous for its Labor movements among other
EU countries .
