The Austrian population will only grow through immigration until 2080 and will age significantly. The number of people of working age is stagnating, Tobias Thomas, managing director of Statistics Austria, said on Wednesday. These developments pose a challenge for the financing of health, care and pension systems.
In 1950 there were still 6.9 million people living in the Alpine Republic; the year before there were already 9.1 million. By 2080, the number of inhabitants is expected to reach 10.2 million, as Statistics Netherlands has now predicted. This is due to immigration, otherwise the Austrian population would shrink (to 6.8 million). “The birth balance will be consistently negative from 2030,” says Thomas.
In the past, migration was mainly determined by economic crises and wars, such as the fall of the Iron Wall, the collapse of Yugoslavia and, most recently, the war in Ukraine. In the first quarter of this year, Syrians were again in first place with almost 5,000 people, followed by Germans with 3,500 and 3,200 people from Romania. Vienna is and remains the biggest immigration magnet. A third to 40 percent of migrants move to the federal capital.
Here you can see a graph showing how the Austrian population is predicted to develop until 2080.
More people over 65 and children
According to Statistics Austria, population growth will mainly be driven by people over the age of 65. Their share in the total Austrian population will increase from 18.5 to 29.1 percent in 2080. The number of children and young people is also expected to increase slightly, while there will be fewer people between the ages of 20 and 64. This means that there will be fewer people of working age. Last year there were 3.1 people of working age for every person over 65, but by 2080 that will be only 1.8. This means that fewer and fewer people have to pay for rising pension costs.
According to statistics, to combat this situation, there should, among other things, be more childcare options that allow parents to work full-time, and more older workers. Currently, just under every second man (45 percent) between the ages of 60 and 64 works, and among women only one in five (20.2 percent). Moreover, more and more people in all age groups are choosing to work part-time. Among women, about four in ten cite care responsibilities as a reason, but at the same time a clear majority also wants to care for their children or adults in need of care themselves.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
