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Erratum: The capital of Lower Austria should be Sankt Pölten, not Vienna as shown in the book.

Country overview: 

Short name	AUSTRIA
ISO code	AT
FIPS code	AU
Language	German (de)
Time zone	+1 ~
Capital	Vienna

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Austria was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or Austria-Hungary. This country included most or all of present-day Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia, about half of Romania, and parts of Southern Poland, Western Ukraine, Northern Yugoslavia, and Northern Italy. It also had administrative control of Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the end of World War I, the treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon redrew the map of Europe, and Austria emerged looking almost exactly as it does today. During World War II, Austria was annexed by Germany, but the Allies never recognized the annexation, and at the end of the war, the status quo ante was restored.

Other names of country: 

1. Czech: Rakousko
2. Danish: Østrig
3. Dutch: Oostenrijk, Republiek Oostenrijk (formal)
4. English: Republic of Austria (formal)
5. Finnish: Itävalta
6. French: Autriche, République f d'Autriche f (formal)
7. German: Österreich, Republik f Österreich n (formal), Östreich n (obsolete)
8. Icelandic: Austurríki
9. Italian: Austria f
10. Norwegian: Østerrike, Republikken Østerrike (formal) (Bokmål), Austerrike, Republikken Austerrike (formal) (Nynorsk)
11. Portuguese: Áustria, República f da Áustria f (formal)
12. Russian: Австрийская Республика (formal), Австрия
13. Spanish: Austria, República f de Austria f (formal)
14. Swedish: Österrike
15. Turkish: Avusturya, Avusturya Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

German Österreich: Eastern empire. Created by Charlemagne as a buffer state.

Primary subdivisions: 

Austria is divided into nine Bundesländer, or simply Länder (states; sing. Land).

States	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTS	UPU	Conv	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Postal Codes
Burgenland	AT.BU	1	AU01	AT11	BGL	Bgl.	286,029	3,965	1,531	Eisenstadt	7xxx
Carinthia	AT.KA	2	AU02	AT21	KAE	Ktn.	557,671	9,532	3,680	Klagenfurt	90xx-98xx
Lower Austria	AT.NO	3	AU03	AT12	NOE	NÖ	1,617,444	19,172	7,402	Sankt Pölten	2xxx, 3xxx
Salzburg	AT.SZ	5	AU05	AT32	SBG	Sbg.	533,247	7,154	2,762	Salzburg	5xxx
Styria	AT.ST	6	AU06	AT22	STM	Stmk.	1,212,415	16,388	6,327	Graz	8xxx
Tyrol	AT.TR	7	AU07	AT33	TIR	Tirol	712,077	12,650	4,884	Innsbruck	60xx-66xx (a)
Upper Austria	AT.OO	4	AU04	AT31	OOE	OÖ	1,416,102	11,978	4,625	Linz	4xxx
Vienna	AT.WI	9	AU09	AT13	WIEN	Wien	1,724,381	415	160	Vienna	1xxx
Vorarlberg	AT.VO	8	AU08	AT34	VBG	Vbg.	371,192	2,601	1,004	Bregenz	67xx-69xx
9 states							8,430,558	83,850	32,375
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. Note: by taking the first three characters of the NUTS codes, the states can be grouped into three regions: AT1 Ostösterreich, AT2 Südösterreich, and AT3 Westösterreich. UPU: Province codes from "Postal Addressing Systems". Conv: Conventional abbreviations used in Austria. Population: 2011-10-31 census from population registers (source [5]). Postal Codes: Austrian Postleitzahlen (postal codes, abbreviated PLZ) are four digits. With a few exceptions, the state can be deduced from the first one or two digits. The exceptions are cases where a city is served from a distribution center in a neighboring state. (a) Also 99xx for East Tyrol. Note: postal codes for Austrian addresses can be identified by prefixing them with "A-".

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Austria page.

Each state is further subdivided into entities of two types: Politischer Bezirk (district) and Statutarstadt (statutory city, or urban district). (Vienna has only one such subdivision.) There are currently 99 districts. They are further subdivided into Gemeinden (communes).

Territorial extent: 

Vienna is completely surrounded by Lower Austria.

Tyrol consists of two sections, separated by a strip of land belonging to Salzburg. The smaller part, commonly called Osttirol (East Tyrol), is equivalent to the Politischer Bezirk of Lienz.

There is also a small area of Tyrol, containing the town of Jungholz, which is connected to the rest of Tyrol at only a single point. The Austrian-German border forms an X there.

The UN LOCODE page  for Austria lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Burgenland: Named for the three Hungarian counties, known in German as Eisenburg, Ödenburg, and Wieselburg, which were cut up to make this state: the Land of the "-burgs."
2. Carinthia: The inhabitants of this region were known as Carantani to the ancient Romans.
3. Lower Austria: Area of Austria which lies downstream along the Danube.
4. Salzburg: German Salz: salt, Burg: castle. Salt was mined and stored here.
5. Styria: German Steiermark from Steyr, a city name, and Old High German marcha: boundary land.
6. Tyrol: Named for Tyrol Castle near Merano.
7. Upper Austria: Area of Austria which lies upstream along the Danube.
8. Vienna: Latin Vindobona from Indo-European vindo: whiteness and Celtic bona: citadel.
9. Vorarlberg: = Before the Arlberg, a mountain (pass) which divides this state from the rest of Austria.

Change history: 

1. 1918: The official names of the provinces of Österreich ober der Enns and Österreich unter der Enns were changed to Oberösterreich and Unterösterreich, respectively, to conform to popular usage.
2. 1920-07-16: By the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Austria was created as a fragment of Austria-Hungary. In principle, Austria was to include the ethnic German areas of Austria-Hungary, but some of these areas were given to other countries for political reasons. The southern part of Tyrol was given to Italy, and is now the region of Trentino-Alto Adige. (The loss of this area left Tyrol in two fragments.) The provinces of Coastland, Carniola, Dalmatia, and the southern part of Styria (6,032 sq. km.) were incorporated in the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which later became Yugoslavia. Carinthia lost 777 sq. km., part to Italy and part to Yugoslavia. The provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, and most of Silesia became part of Czechoslovakia. Galicia and the rest of Silesia were given to Poland. Bukowina was given to Romania. By the Treaty of Trianon, the western parts of three Hungarian counties were transferred from Hungary to Austria, forming the state of Burgenland. For other transfers of territory, see Hungary. The capitals of the forfeited provinces, when they were part of Austria-Hungary, were Trieste (Coastland), Laibach (Carniola), Zadar (Dalmatia), Prague (Bohemia), Brunn (Moravia), Troppau (Silesia), Lemberg (Galicia), and Czernowitz (Bukowina).
3. 1921-12-14: Part of Burgenland restored to Hungary, including the city of Ödenburg, now known as Sopron.
4. 1922-01-01: Vienna split from Unterösterreich, leaving the latter without a capital.
5. 1938-03-13: Austria was annexed by Germany in the Anschluss. The Allies never recognized the legality of this act. The German government called the Austrian territory Ostmark. Tirol and Vorarlberg were unified into a single entity called Tirol-Vorarlberg. Burgenland was entirely divided between Lower Austria and Styria. The names of Lower and Upper Austria were changed to Niederdonau and Oberdonau (Lower and Upper Danube), respectively. The divisions of Ostmark were classified as Reichsgaue (provinces or districts of the empire). An area of 800 sq. km. around Vienna was transferred from Niederdonau to Vienna. Krems was named capital of Niederdonau.
6. 1945-04-29: A provisional government was set up for a liberated Austria, restored to its pre-war borders (both external and internal, except for Vienna). The Allied Council recognized this government on 1945-10-20.
7. 1954: Vienna was restored to its pre-war borders.
8. 1986-07-10: Capital of Lower Austria moved from Vienna to Sankt Pölten.
9. 1995-01-01: Austria joined the European Union.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Burgenland: Burgenlândia (Portuguese-variant)
2. Carinthia: Carinthie (French, Norwegian); Caríntia (Portuguese); Carintia (Spanish); Carinzia (Italian); Karintia (Turkish); Karintië (Dutch); Kärnten (Danish, Finnish, German, Swedish); Koroško (Slovenian)
3. Lower Austria: ala-Itävalta (Finnish); Austria Inferiore (Italian); Baixa-Áustria (Portuguese); Baja Austria (Spanish); Basse-Autriche (French); Nedre Østrig (Danish); Niederdonau, Österreich unter der Enns (obsolete-German); Niederösterreich (Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish)
4. Salzburg: Salisburgo (Italian); Salzbourg (French); Salzburgo (Portuguese, Spanish)
5. Styria: Estíria (Portuguese); Estiria (Spanish); Steiermark (Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Stiermarken (Dutch); Stiria (Italian); Styrie (French)
6. Tyrol: Tirol (Dutch, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish); Tiroli (Finnish); Tirolo (Italian); Tyrolen (Swedish)
7. Upper Austria: Alta-Áustria (Portuguese); Alta Austria (Spanish); Austria Superiore (Italian); Haute-Autriche (French); Oberdonau, Österreich ober der Enns (obsolete-German); Oberösterreich (Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Øvre Østrig (Danish); ylä-Itävalta (Finnish)
8. Vienna: Viena (Portuguese, Spanish); Vienne (French); Vín (Icelandic); Viyana (Turkish); Wenen (Dutch); Wien (Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Вена (Russian)

Population history:

State	1869-12-31	1880-12-31	1890-12-31	1900-12-31	1910-12-31	1923-03-07	1934-03-22	1939-05-17
Burgenland	254,301	270,090	282,225	292,426	292,007	286,299	299,656
Carinthia	315,397	324,857	337,013	343,531	371,372	370,432	405,412	460,946
Lower Austria	1,077,232	1,152,767	1,213,471	1,310,506	1,425,238	1,478,697	1,447,688	1,708,237
Salzburg	153,159	163,570	173,510	192,763	214,737	222,731	245,973	267,169
Styria	720,809	777,453	828,375	889,017	957,610	977,350	1,015,630	1,119,374
Tyrol	236,426	244,736	249,984	266,374	304,713	313,699	349,342	484,165
Upper Austria	736,856	760,091	786,496	810,854	853,595	873,702	903,597	1,040,931
Vienna	900,998	1,162,591	1,430,213	1,769,137	2,083,630	1,863,783	1,937,235	1,918,462
Vorarlberg	102,702	107,373	116,073	129,237	145,408	139,968	155,511
Totals	4,497,880	4,963,528	5,417,360	6,003,845	6,648,310	6,526,661	6,760,044	6,999,284

 

State	1939-05-17	1951-06-01	1961-03-21	1971-05-12	1981-05-12	1991-05-15	2001-05-15	2011-10-31
Burgenland		276,136	271,001	272,119	269,771	273,541	277,569	286,029
Carinthia	460,946	474,764	495,226	525,728	536,179	552,421	559,404	557,671
Lower Austria	1,708,237	1,400,471	1,374,012	1,414,161	1,427,849	1,480,927	1,545,804	1,617,444
Salzburg	267,169	327,232	347,292	401,766	442,301	483,880	515,327	533,247
Styria	1,119,374	1,109,335	1,137,865	1,192,100	1,186,525	1,184,593	1,183,303	1,212,415
Tyrol	484,165	427,465	462,899	540,771	586,663	630,358	673,504	712,077
Upper Austria	1,040,931	1,108,720	1,131,623	1,223,444	1,269,540	1,340,076	1,376,797	1,416,102
Vienna	1,918,462	1,616,125	1,627,566	1,614,841	1,531,346	1,533,176	1,550,123	1,724,381
Vorarlberg		193,657	226,323	271,473	305,164	333,128	351,095	371,192
Totals	6,999,284	6,933,905	7,073,807	7,456,403	7,555,338	7,812,100	8,065,166	8,430,558

 

Most data in the tables above come from source [4], and are proleptic. Data for 1939 could not be retrieved from that site. In 1939, Burgenland was included in Lower Austria and Styria; Vorarlberg was included in Tyrol.

Sources: 

1. [1] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
2. [2] Fourth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, United Nations, New York, 1987.
3. [3] Österreiches Jahrbuch 1973. Drück und Verlag der Österr. Staatsdrückerei, Wien, 1974.
4. [4] STATcube  - Statistical Database of Statistics Austria (retrieved 2013-03-05).
5. [5] Statistik Austria  Table of NUTS-3 areas with communes, areas, and populations (retrieved 2013-02-01).

Acknowledgments: 

1. Valentin Arzoumanian
   Sent a spreadsheet containing the 2011 census data, from source [5].
2. Horst Borger
   2017-09-30 - Suggested correction to the conventional abbreviations of states.