VORARLBERG - Geography and history
Over an area of 2 601 km2, Vorarlberg has four political districts with a total of 96 municipalities. Its capital is Bregenz. It has a border with Tirol and international borders with Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Vorarlberg is largely mountainous. The area around the Bodensee (Lake Constance) in the north-west has a very favourable climate, whilst the broad Rhine valley in the west and the lower III valley also benefit from having the climate of the Alpine foreland as opposed to the humid-cool Alpine climate which predominates in the rest of Vorarlberg. The northern, lower mountains form part of the Bregenzerwald (Bregenz woods), assigned to the Flysch range. To the south are the northern Limestone Alps and, in the south-east, the Pre-Cambrian Central Alps. Only 19.8 % of the land is used for agriculture or horticulture, 26.6 % is taken up by the Alps and 33.9 % is wooded.
Three quarters of the population live in the heavily-industrialized Rhine valley, in the surrounding area and near Lake Constance. Tourism is a major industry throughout Vorarlberg. The two tunnels through the Arlberg (road and rail) form the main links with the rest of the country and roads and railways lead to Germany and Switzerland.
A tourist area with a wide variety of industries
Although it is largely mountainous, Vorarlberg, with its Alemannic population, boasts a variety of landscape in a very small area. Along Lake Constance are flat areas as well as hills and mountains and the mild climate lends itself to fruit-growing. The broad Rhine valley, which also stretches into Switzerland and Liechtenstein, houses most of Vorarlberg's population. The Bregenzerwald, with its range of low mountains, has a wealth of forests as well as meadows and mountain pastures. In the south are the high Limestone Alps with the Rätikon and in the south-east the Central Alps with the Silvretta group, which is partly glaciated. The scenic beauty of the area and highly-developed infrastructure help to give Vorarlberg the third-highest number of tourists per square kilometre (excluding Vienna) in the country. Finally, many different types of industry are established in the area which also has substantial hydroelectric power generating facilities.
The traditional textile industry, geared largely to high-quality products, is struggling for survival but still accounts for a major share of the respective Austrian production. Vorarlberg has only a few post-secondary educational establishments and a relatively low percentage of graduates. In the autumn of 1994 a university-level applied science course in production automation was set up. Finally, the distance separating Vorarlberg from much of the rest of the country and the fact that it is cut off by mountain ranges brings serious transport and communication problems.
Heavily built-up area in the Rhine valley and around Lake Constance, elsewhere rural in character
In 1999, Vorarlberg had an overall population density of 135 per km2, but as much as 603 in the area where most of the population is concentrated. In 2000, 37.3% of the working population were employed in the secondary sector and 60.4% in the tertiary. GDP per capita was 118% of the EU average (114.3% in Austria as a whole). The various parts of the region differ tremendously from one another.
In the Rhine valley and along Lake Constance there are many small and medium-sized towns, which often merge with each other, along with municipalities made up almost entirely of new housing.
Here, 75% of Vorarlberg's population, mostly in owner-occupied housing, are packed into just under 28% of its total area (population density 365 per km2) along with industry, predominantly textiles and clothing, metal, electrical and sports goods and foodstuffs, the main cultural facilities and the offices of the Vorarlberg Government. Per capita GDP is 114% of the EU average.
The Bludenz-Bregenzerwald area (excluding the town of Bludenz) is a largely rural area of livestock, grassland, Alpine farming and forestry, with a thriving summer and winter tourist trade and a substantial output from hydroelectric plants. The GDP per capita in 2000 in Bludenz-Bregenzer Wald area was 129% of the EU average.
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