BURGENLAND - Population
Population growth below the average of Austria
With its structural weaknesses, its situation on the fringes of Austria and its lack of major cities, Burgenland has a tradition of emigration stretching back many decades. Between 1870 and 1980, altogether 182 000 people emigrated and were not replaced by new arrivals. With births far outstripping deaths, however, the number of inhabitants had risen to just under 300 000 by the 1930s. Fertility then fell sharply to become the lowest in Austria at the present time at 1.17 births per woman. More deaths than births have been registered every year since 1990. The birth rate was of 8 live births per 1000 inhabitants, the lowest in Austria (at equality with Steiermark). The infant mortality rate was of 3 deaths before the age of one per 1000 live births - the same as for Salzburg and the lowest in Austria. In the year 1991, Burgenland had 270.880 inhabitants and the total population has risen since that year to 277.569 inhabitants in the year 2001. Compared to 1991, the population has grown by 2.5%, at the census of 15 May 2001. The number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 5 985 persons and the net migration was of 12 674 persons. Eisenstadt - the capital of the Bundesland - registered the highest population increase: 9.5%.
For many years, foreigners accounted for only 1% of the population: now they make up 4.5%. Of every 100 foreigners counted in the 2001 census, 14 were citizens of EU countries (including 11 Germans), 14 Hungarians, 36 from the former Yugoslavia, 7 Romanians and 10 Turks. There is an age-old tradition of immigration by Croatian and Hungarian ethnic groups who settle in language 'pockets'. In the 2001 census, 6.5% of Austrian nationals gave Croatian and 1.8% Hungarian as their language of normal usage. Roman Catholics account for 79.4% of the population, but Burgenland has the largest Protestant minority in Austria at 13.3%, which is almost three times more than the country's average (4.7%).
The age structure is influenced by years of emigration and the decline in the number of births. Some people went for their education or had their first job experience in Vienna and never returned. Seventy-one percent of the population in Burgenland are under 55, whereas the share of the population of over 55 is 2% higher than for the country as a whole.
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