STEIERMARK - Geography and history
Steiermark (Styria), which has been part of Austria since the end of the 12th century, has an area of 16 392 km2. Its capital is the chartered city of Graz and it has 16 political districts and 543 municipalities (2001). It has an international border with Slovenia and is bounded by five Bundesländer: Kärnten, Salzburg, Oberösterreich, Niederösterreich and Burgenland.
In the north, the massifs of the Limestone Alps are succeeded by the Pre-Cambrian Central Alps, which are gentler in the east and south-west and steep in the west. Between the two chains the valleys of the Mure, Mur, Liesing-Palten and Enns run longitudinally. Both ranges have an Alpine climate. The south-east of Steiermark, with both hills and flatlands, is part of the gateway to the Hungarian Plain. Here, fruit trees and vineyards flourish in the milder Illyrian climate. Forests cover 57.1% of the land area, the highest percentage in Austria, and mountain pastures account for 6.6 %, with 26,8 % used for agriculture or horticulture.
The Mur and Mürz valleys house an important iron and steel industry and there is a further industrial bell around Graz. Otherwise, the main activity is forestry in the more mountainous parts and agriculture in the south-east. International transport routes running north-east to south-east intersect with those which run in a north-south direction.
Woodlands, forestry and the problems of heavy industry
Steiermark has a wide variety of landscapes. The north-west includes part of the lakeland area of the Salzkammergut, further to the east are the Gesäuse mountains favoured by climbers and in the north-east the limestone massifs. To the south these are joined by the Central Alps, which, with the exception of part of the Niedere Tauern, are at this point a rather low mountain range known as the Grasberge (grass mountains). In the south of the region, western and southern Steiermark have steep hills and vine-covered southern-facing slopes, whereas in eastern Steiermark some of the hills are wooded and there are broad valleys and flood plains along the river Mur. Sixty-five per cent of the tourists who visit this beautiful Bundesland 2001, where tourism is a significant if highly localized industry, come from elsewhere in Austria. The cultural hub of the area is Graz. As the Grüne Mark (green marches), Steiermark has more woods than any other part of Austria and is thus the centre of the country's forestry industry, producing 28% of all the timber felled in Austria, 75% of it coniferous. As well as sawmills, wood processing and paper, timber exports, principally to Italy, are an important feature of the economy.
Steiermark's major problems stem from the decline of heavy industry, in particular the iron and steel rolling mills and foundries of the Mürz/Mur valleys in Obersteiermark. Metal processing (mechanical engineering, vehicle building) is faring better, in some cases at least. Lignite is now mined at only one opencast site in the west of Steiermark. In the Graz area, industry is generally holding its own more successfully. The rail network suffers from problems of access to the other areas of Central Europe.
Thriving industrial heartland around Graz, economies trailing elsewhere
Steiermark has 72 inhabitants per km2. Per capita GDP is 96% (2000) of the EU average (PPP approach).
In the mountainous area of Obersteiermark, where forestry is important, the industrial pattern is varied: the districts of Liezen in the north-west and Murau in the west are thinly-populated, rural areas, parts of which have a flourishing tourist trade. The rest of this area, however, particularly around the Mur/Mürz valley, has traditionally been home to heavy industry and is now in serious trouble, one of its main problems being high unemployment. There is a paper industry and a certain amount of tourism, but concentrated in small areas. In the three regions of Obersteiermark, GDP per capita ranges from 89 to 103% of the EU average.
Graz, with 19% of the total population, is the political, economic and cultural nucleus of Steiermark, and has a varied industrial base. The GDP per capita in Graz region was 132% of the EU average in 2000, whereas in eastern Steiermark it was 65% of the EU average, and in western and south Steiermark 72% of the EU average.
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