Austria - Imminent - Translated's Research Center

Europe

The primary language used in Austria is German—or more precisely, Austrian German, which is a variety of Standard High German. It is used throughout the country in the media and other formal situations and contexts. Although it is very similar to Standard German as used in Germany, it also features quite some peculiarities regarding spelling, grammar, and vocabulary, which can be very meaningful and identity-establishing for people in this market. For localization, and depending on cost-benefit considerations, it can be beneficial for building trust and relatability on the Austrian market to take this distinction into account and opt for an actual locale-specific approach to tailor content to Austrian German. That said, most major platforms and global companies do not actually localize their content specifically for the Austrian market but rely on a unified “German” approach instead, addressing the larger DACH market (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) with one “German” voice. The Austrian audience has become used to that; hence this approach is widely accepted as well.

To which language should you translate to localize in Austria
and the DACH market?

There are many local dialects and regional language variants in the German-speaking market, which comprises a total population of 100+ million people. This broad variety is true both within Austria as well as in the larger DACH market, which consists of Germany (“Deutschland”), Austria (“Österreich”), and Switzerland (“Schweiz”). Additionally, there are German-speaking populations in the small states of Liechtenstein and Luxembourg (“Luxemburg”), and in the Italian province of South Tyrol (“Südtirol”). Context therefore matters very much: We always need to consider the specific audience to provide natural, idiomatic translations.

The safest choice for addressing the entire market is to use Standard High German, a standardized variety of German for communication in formal contexts and between different dialect areas. That said, cultural sensitivity is important, as seemingly simple choices can make quite a difference. For example, a “chair” could be a “Stuhl” for most people in Germany, whereas most Austrians would call it a “Sessel”, which in turn would be a rather specific form of chair (i.e. an armchair) for Germans. Context also matters for grammar and even spelling: A “month” would be “der Monat” (masculine) in Germany but “das Monat” (neuter) in Austria; and “street” would be spelled “Straße” in Germany and Austria but “Strasse” in Switzerland.

Official language
German (88.6%; 8.16 mln)

Other languages
German (88.6%; 8.16 mln), Turkish (2.3%; 0.21 mln), Serbian (2.2%; 0.20 mln), Croatian (1.6%; 0.15 mln), Hungarian (0.5%; 0.05 mln), Slovenian (0.3%; 0.03 mln), Czech (0.2%; 0.02 mln), other (4.4%; 0.41 mln)

English proficiency
Very high proficiency (EF) – 3 out of 123 countries/regions in the world- 3/37 position in Europe.

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

109/150 localize by translating into German
1/150 localizes by translating into both Austrian and Austrian Sign Language
1/150 localizes by translating into both German and Italian
1/150 localizes by translating into German, French and Simplified Chinese
1/150 localizes by translating into both German and French
1/150 localizes by translating into German, Spanish, French, Russian, Korean and Japanese
1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese
1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French and Simplified Chinese
1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish and Swedish
1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Thai, Ukrainian, Turkish, Romanian and Bahasa Indonesia

3M
ABB
Accenture
Adidas
Adobe
Airbnb
Aldi
Amazon
American Airlines
American Express
Apple
Audi
Autodesk
Avis
Bayer
BMW
Booking.com
Bosch
British Airways
Bumble
Burberry
BYD
Canon
Capgemini
Cartier
Caterpillar
Chevrolet
Cisco Systems
Citibank
Coca-Cola
Costco
Dell
Deloitte
Delta
DHL
Disney+
Dyson
eBay
Eli Lilly
Emirates
Ernst & Young
Facebook
FedEx
Ford
Four Seasons
Fujifilm
GE
Gillette
GoDaddy
Google
Gucci
Haier
Heineken
Hermès
Hertz
Hilton
Hisense
Hitachi
Honda
Hotels.com
HP
HP Enterprise
HSBC
Huawei
Hyatt
Hyundai
IBM
IKEA
Intel
InterContinental Hotels
J&J
Jack Daniel's
Jehovah’s Witnesses
John Deere
Kellogg's
Kia
KPMG
L'Oréal
Land Rover
LEGO
Lenovo
Lexus
LG
Louis Vuitton
Lululemon
LUSH
Marriott
MasterCard
McDonald's
Mercedes-Benz
Merck
Microsoft
Mitsubishi Electric
Nestlé
Netflix
Nike
Nikon
Nintendo
Nio
Nissan
NIVEA
Oracle
Pampers
Panasonic
PayPal
Pepsi
Pfizer
Philips
Pitney Bowes
Porsche
Procter & Gamble
PWC
Revolut
Rolex
Royal Caribbean
Salesforce
Samsung
Sanofi
SAP
Sephora
Shopify
Siemens
Sony
Spotify
Starbucks
Steelcase
Stripe
Subaru
Tesla
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Tiffany
Tinder
Toshiba
Toyota
TripAdvisor
Uber
United Airlines
UPS
Visa
Volkswagen
Volvo Cars
Vrbo
Walmart
Western Union
Wikipedia
Wise
WordPress
Workday
Xerox
Xiaomi (Mi)
Zara
Zoom

Overview

Demography

Capital: Vienna
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Population: 9.21M
Population density: 110.66/km2

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals with comma as decimal separator

Date format: dd.mm.yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 040

Economy

GDP: 579.47 billion USD (2025)
GDP per capita: 62,930.04 USD (2025)
Exports: 202 billion USD (2024)
Imports: 205 billion USD (2024)

T-index
0.43%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Statistics

Internet users: 95.3% penetration, 8.69 million (2025)
Unemployment rate: 5.58% (2025)
Urbanisation: 69.7% (2025)
Global Innovation Index: 19th out of 139 countries worldwide

Language data sources: Worlddata / EF ; Demography data sources: World Bank / Worlddata / IBAN ; Economy data sources: World Bank / OEC / T-index ; Statistics data sources: DataReportal / World Bank / WIPO

If you need other information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data

Facts and Data

Economy
Media
Internet Data
Social Statistics
Research & Development

T-index

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T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.

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Economy

GDP
$579.47 billion (2025)

Trade – Economic Complexity Index
Ranked 10th out of 130 countries

The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) measures the sophistication and diversity of a country’s exports.

Product Imports
$205 billion (2024)

Service Imports
$98.29 billion (2025)

Market Growth Imports
1.7% of annual growth (2025)

Financial inclusion factors
• 99.5% have an account with a financial institution
• 59% have a credit card
• 99.2% make digital payment

Active E-commerce
35,774 active stores

GDP Growth (annual %)
0.62%

GDP per Capita
$62,930.04 (2025)

Product Exports
$202 billion (2024)

Service Exports
$105.49 billion (2025)

Market Growth Exports
0.3% of annual growth (2025)

Main online stores
Amazon Austria, AliExpress, Willhaben, Zalando, MediaMarkt, Universal, Geizhals, About You, BILLA, dm-drogerie markt, Blue Tomato, BIPA

Global Startup Ecosystem Index
France ranked 27th out of 100 countries, 12.2% of annual ecosystem growth

The Global Startup Ecosystem Index ranks countries by the strength of their startup ecosystems. It evaluates factors such as startup activity, ecosystem quality, and the business environment.

Economy data sources: World Bank / OEC / T-index / Joy of Creating / BrandNav

Media

Media language German

The press

Kronen Zeitung, Die Presse, Kurier, Heute, Österreich / oe24, Kleine Zeitung, Salzburger Nachrichten, Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, Tiroler Tageszeitung, Vorarlberger Nachrichten, Wiener Zeitung, Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung

News Agency

Austria Press Agency (APA), APA-OTS, APA-OTS Video, APA-Fotoservice, APA-Images, APA-Faktencheck

Magazines

Profil, Falter, Datum, News, Die Furche, The Gap

Television

ORF 1, ORF 2, ORF 2 Europe, ORF III, ORF KIDS, ORF ON

Radio

O1, Hitradio O3, FM4, ORF Sound, Radio Wien, Radio Niederosterreich

Media data source: GlobalMediaList

Internet Data

Internet users
95.3% penetration, 8.69 million (2025)

Share of web traffic by device
49.29% mobile phones, 48.56% computers (laptops and desktops), 2.11% tablet devices and 0.05% other devices

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
127.22 Mbps (Download)
18.83 Mbps (Upload)

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
114.99 Mbps (Download)
30.77 Mbps (Upload)

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 148%

Most popular web search engines
Google (86.56%), Bing (5.92%), Yandex (2.73%), DuckDuckGo (2.37%), Yahoo! (1.28%), Ecosia (0.87%), Seznam (0.10%), Others (0.17%).

Share of AI web traffic referrals
ChatGPT (86.59%), Perplexity (6.20%), Microsoft Copilot (5.61%), Google Gemini (1.08%), Claude (0.35%), DeepSeek (0.17%).

Most used social media
WhatsApp (87.3%), Facebook (65.9%), Instagram (61.9%), YouTube (49.7%), Messenger (41.8%), TikTok (31.4%), Pinterest (29.1%), LinkedIn (22.9%), Telegram (22.1%), Snapchat (20.9%), X (16.9%), iMessage (16.0%), Reddit (10.6%), XING (10.4%), Skype (9.7%)

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 99.5%

Internet data sources: DataReportal / Statcounter

Social statistics

Life expectancy
82.00 yrs (2024)

Current health expenditure
11.83% of GDP

Current education expenditure
92.16% of total expenditure in public institutions

CO2 emissions
6.55 metric tons per capita

Corruption Perceptions Index
Austria scored 69 out of 100, ranked 21 out 182 countries worldwide.

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries by perceived levels of public sector corruption. It is based on expert assessments and business surveys, with higher scores indicating lower perceived corruption.

Religion
Roman Catholic (55.2%), None (20.8%), Muslim (8.3%), Unspecified (5%), Orthodox (4.9%), Protestant (3.8%), Other (2%)

Ethnicity
Austrian (80.8%), Other (10%), German (2.6%), Bosnian and Herzegovinian (1.9%), Turkish (1.8%), Serbian (1.6%), Romanian (1.3%)

World Happiness Index

The World Happiness Index ranks countries by people’s self-reported life satisfaction. It also considers factors like income, health, social support, freedom, and trust.

Social statistics sources: World Bank / Transparency International / Worldometer / World Population Review

World news for global citizens.

The Imminent Newsletter

Research & Development

R&D Expenditure
3.26% of GDP

World Competitiveness Ranking
Austria ranked 29th out of 70 countries, with a score of 70.35

The World Competitiveness Ranking measures how well countries create an environment that supports business performance and long-term prosperity. It evaluates factors such as economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

World Digital Competitiveness Ranking
Austria ranked 24th out of 69 countries, with a score of 79.85

The World Digital Competitiveness Ranking measures how well countries adopt and develop digital technologies to drive economic transformation. It assesses factors such as knowledge, technology, and future readiness.

Technology – Economic Complexity Index
Ranked 3rd out of 97 countries

Research – Economic Complexity Index
Ranked 15th out of 138 countries

The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) measures the sophistication and diversity of a country’s exports.

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 11th out of 39 European countries, and 19th out of 139 countries worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation ecosystem performance of economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Research & Development sources: World Bank / OEC / WIPO / IMD

To which language should you translate to localize in Austria?

To which language should you translate to localize in Austria
and the DACH market?