AUSTRIA 
General Information

AREA: 83,858 sq km (32,378 sq miles).

POPULATION: 8,067,800 (1996).

POPULATION DENSITY: 96.2 per sq km.

CAPITAL: Vienna (Wien). Population: 1,609,600 (1997).

GEOGRAPHY: Austria is a landlocked country, bordered by Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy. It is a mountainous country, nearly half of which is covered with forests. Austria's nine Federal Provinces form a political entity, but reflect a diversity of landscapes falling into five sections: the Eastern Alps (62.8%), the Alpine and Carpathian Foothills (11.3%), the Pannonian Lowlands (11.3%), the Vienna Basin (4.4%) and the Granite and Gneiss Highlands or Bohemian Massif (10.1%). Austria's highest mountain is Grossglockner (3798m/12,465ft). On its way from the Black Forest in southern Germany to the Black Sea, the River Danube flows approximately 360km (220 miles) through Austria. The vegetation changes according to the climate: the lower regions are densely wooded, with fir predominating above 1600ft and giving way to larch and stone-pine beyond 4000ft; the Alpine foothills consist predominantly of arable land and grassland (above 2000ft). The Pannonian region is characterised by scrub and heathland.

GOVERNMENT: Federal Republic. Head of State: President Thomas Klestil since 1992. 
Head of Government: Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel since 2000.

LANGUAGE: German is the official language. Regional dialects are pronounced and within the different regions of the country one will encounter marked variations from Hochdeutsch, ie 'standard' German. There are Croatian and Slovene-speaking minorities in the Burgenland and southern Carinthia respectively.

RELIGION: 78% Roman Catholic, 5% Protestant, 4.5% other denominations.

TIME: GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).