Great solidarity – at home in the heart: what we love about our country

“Again, again, again and again Austria,” echoes through the stadium at international football matches, a sea of ​​red-white-red flags accompanies the local top skiers as they hunt for times in Kitzbühel or Schladming – when it comes to the sport, an entire country is moving forward. Together we keep our fingers crossed for the Austrians.

This year’s flood disaster has also highlighted how strong we are as a nation when we stick together.

In recent years, some doubts have arisen
On the occasion of today’s national holiday, the Linz research institute IMAS asked the following question: “Are you proud to be Austrian?” And the answer was more than clear: 49 percent said they were absolutely proud to be Austrian.

“Currently, 86 percent are absolutely or predominantly proud of Austria; over the long period since 1973 this value has been relatively constant. There is only a small shift from absolute to mostly noticeable, so a slight doubt has arisen in recent years,” explains pollster Paul Eiselsberg.

Collective attitude to life
However, the opposing group is very small: only nine percent are not or not at all proud of being Austrian. “Sociodemographically, this attitude to life appears to be consistent across groups; residents of rural areas and the elderly are particularly proud,” says Eiselsberg.

So despite criticism of internal problems and bottlenecks, people are aware of the benefits. And as Rainhard Fendrich once sang: “Sog i at the end of the world voi pride and when you are all there – I am from Austria”.