The bureaucratic effort in Austria is lower than in most neighboring countries, but there is still a lot of room for improvement compared to the leaders in Northern Europe.
The trade association has been saying for years that Austrian companies are in danger of suffocating under excessive bureaucracy – now the IV has commissioned its chief economist Christian Helmenstein and his Economica Institute to substantiate this criticism with a study and figures. The result: the bureaucratic burden in Austria is lower than in most neighboring countries, but the gap with the best performing countries in Scandinavia and the Baltics is large.
Austria in the European midfield
Companies in Austria spend up to 15 billion euros annually on tax returns, annual accounts, reporting obligations and the like, reports the magazine ‘Pragmaticus’ in its current report and refers to the Economica study, according to which Austria is included in the Bureaucracy Cost Index developed by Economica is in the European midfield with a score of 60 points. By comparison, Germany and the Czech Republic perform significantly worse with 55 points each, but the burden of bureaucracy is much higher in Slovakia (37 points), Hungary (46) and Italy (43). Slovenia (61) has approximately the same level as Austria.
Clear north-south division
Overall, there is a clear north-south divide in the EU: the south-east and the south score the lowest, meaning that costs and bureaucratic efforts are highest in these countries. Bureaucracy costs are particularly low in Finland (83), Sweden (78), Denmark (77), Estonia (73) and the Netherlands (72).
The first edition of the Bureaucracy Cost Index (BKI) for companies with data from 2023 includes a total of 25 indicators for which comparable scores are calculated across the EU and merged into one index. The indicators have been compiled from various international sources by systematically searching databases, indicator collections and existing indices. The BKI is intended to make bureaucratic costs, personnel costs and non-monetary obstacles comparable in all EU countries.
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.
