Last surveys – Migrants overwhelm our country – with the exception of

The new edition of the Integration Barometer of the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) and opinion researcher Peter Hajek offers a clear signal – one of disillusion. Trust in a functioning cooperation continues to crumble. No less than 70 percent no longer believe that Austria can currently deal with the influx of asylum seekers and refugees.

Just as many are convinced that the integration of immigrants is bad – or not at all. She only considers almost fifteen minutes as successful. Hajek summarizes it: “The Austrian electoral population has long been concerned about immigration and integration.”

Live with Muslims as a challenge
The assessment of living together with Muslims is particularly alarming. Two -thirds think it has failed. Refugees and immigrants generally cut off just as badly. The number of people who live together if “earlier” or “very bad” is around 65 percent.

The Ukrainians offer a clear counter picture: 54 percent assess the cooperation with displaced persons from Ukraine as positive. This means that they are the only group that is clearly in Plus. The figures show that the image of immigration is anything but general – sympathy, culture and origin play an important role.

Security and trust in retreat
But the uncertainty goes further – far beyond the integration climate. Almost every second feels more insecure today than a year ago. The subjective sense of security has been active since the start of the survey. Above all, women, the elderly and people with a lower education or income are influenced. There are also financial burdens. Even more than 90 percent of the Austrians are sometimes concerned about prices for electricity, heating and food – 39 percent even “very often”.

At the same time, trust is in social cohesion drops. 53 percent no longer believes in a functioning cooperation. This value has also deteriorated compared to the previous year.

Learn German or loss social benefits
What follows? The question of order, clarity and consistency. 88 percent demand that refugees must learn German within a certain period. If you do not do this, you must expect sanctions. The signal is clear: if you want to stay, you have to try it. The opinion is clear. Marriages of children, religious extremism, abuse of social services – people want to take on everywhere.

Majority for the ban on headscarf
Even a headscarf ban for girls under the age of 14 in schools is generally approved. Three of the four respondents say: this must be prohibited. Minister Claudia Plakolm: “We will consistently demand this with the new integration program. We will bring people to integration, if necessary also with sanctions.”

Plakolm underlines the course of the federal government and refers to another central result: 61 percent of the respondents see the responsibility for integration between immigrants themselves, not in the state or society. “If you want to live in Austria, you have to learn German, work and stick to our rules and values,” she says.

Backming in family reunification
The suspension of the family manager – a measure by the federal government since the spring of 2025. More than half of the respondents wants this regulation to be expanded for an indefinite period of time. Only nine percent clearly rejects the stop.

Integration works in the workplace
What do people interfere? The answers are clear: too little German, a retarded image of women, political Islam – and the impression that the social system is used too much. Many people find the biggest problems where integration becomes visible every day: in schools, in some residential areas, in public places. And yet there are also areas where cooperation works – especially at work. There many describe together with immigrants as fairly positive. Hajek confirms this: “At the same time, there are positive signals in the working environment.”

But that does not change the general impression: the mood tilts. Trust is lost. And the call for rules, limits and clear announcements is becoming louder.