High share in Vienna – Significantly more foreign schoolchildren in cities

With a share of over 19 percent of foreign children between the ages of six and fifteen, Salzburg and Vorarlberg hardly come close to Vienna. The same applies to Upper Austria with 18 percent. In Burgenland and Tyrol, the share is just over 16 percent, in Carinthia around 15 percent. It is lowest in Lower Austria, with 14 percent.

Catfish at Viennese level
However, there are also cities in the respective states that are well above these values. For example, the state capitals Linz and Graz with 36 and 34 percent respectively, which have a significantly higher share than their state and are therefore located approximately in the same area as Vienna.

The contrast between the Upper Austrian average and the state’s second-largest city is particularly stark: in Wels, around 2,600 of the 6,500 children between the ages of six and fifteen do not have Austrian citizenship. This equates to four out of ten children and is therefore on a par with Viennese. If you only look at third-country nationals (i.e. excluding EU and EEA countries), the share is still 23 percent.

Nationality says nothing about language proficiency
It is important to note that nationality does not necessarily say anything about language skills or possible language problems. There are also students who have Austrian citizenship but have a different mother tongue.

In five districts of Vienna, the share of children from third countries between the ages of six and fifteen is over 30 percent. When looking at the total share of children with non-Austrian citizenship, the individual districts come to over 50 percent (Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, Margareten) and 40 percent (including Brigittenau, Favoriten, Ottakring).

Compared to the total number of foreign citizens, the number in the younger age group is generally higher. This is evident from the population data of the Central Statistical Office of Austria from April 2024. The influx of students through family reunification has recently become a political hot topic. The federal states themselves were unable or unwilling to provide specific figures at the request of the APA.

Ukrainian students in wealthier neighborhoods of Vienna
What can be deduced from the population data is at least the significant increase in the number of Ukrainian citizens since the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. On April 1, there were 13,000 Ukrainian schoolchildren in the whole of Austria, more than 4,700 in the federal capital alone. Here too, children are again above the general share (0.9 percent) with a share of 1.5 percent.

Interestingly, Ukrainian schoolchildren in Vienna can be found in more affluent districts, such as Innere Stadt, Neubau and Wieden. For children with Syrian or Afghan citizenship, the situation is different. They are more likely to be found in districts where the overall share of third-country nationals is already high, such as Favoriten, Ottakring or Margareten.

More children from third countries
Since 2015, the share of children from third countries in Austria has increased significantly overall. While nine years ago around 7.5 percent came from non-EU countries, this was over twelve percent in April. The overall share of all age groups is around nine percent; an increase of around three percentage points since 2015.

The Viennese districts of Margareten (up almost 15 percentage points), Meidling and Floridsdorf (both around 13) showed particular growth among six to fifteen year olds. All districts where the share was already at a high level.

This high percentage of children with a foreign nationality also corresponds to the districts of Vienna where, according to the city of Vienna, many children have problems with the German language. These exceptional students are the ones who cannot follow the lessons.

A survey by the Viennese ÖVP at the beginning of this year showed that Margareten (68 percent), Ottakring and Brigittenau (each 57 percent), Favoriten (54 percent) and Meidling (51 percent) are the districts where the share of schoolchildren with language problems is particularly high. However, the figures from that survey are from 2022.