Facts about Austria
General Information
The Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. As a federal republic, Austria is divided into nine states. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.
With an area of 83.858 sq km Austria consists of 9 independent federal states (Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Vienna) with their own provincial governments.
Austria has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres. The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language.