Religious geography

Religious geography

Based on the available statistical data from 2001 and a series of demographic projections , it is possible to identify two trends in the geographical spread of religious affiliations in Austria. First, as is observable in many other European countries, there is a higher share of religiously unaffiliated persons in urban areas, compared to those in rural regions. Second, migration movements are reflected in the religious geography of the country. Urban and economically successful industrial areas have a higher share of Muslim inhabitants. For some years now, a significant share of immigrants to Austria has been coming from Muslim majority countries and newcomers have better opportunities on the labour market in these areas. This spread also accounts for the history of “guest worker” regimes in the 1960s and 1970s, which had brought labour migrants from Eastern and Southern Europe as well as Turkey to Austria, many of them of Muslim faith.

Source:
 Anne Goujon, Sandra Jurasszovich, und Michaela Potančoková, Demographie und Religion in Österreich. Szenarien 2016 bis 2046, ÖIF Forschungsbericht, Wien, 2017.
 Goujon, Anne, Claudia Reiter, and Michaela Potančoková, Religious Affiliations in Austria at the Provincial Level: Estimates for Vorarlberg, 2001-2018, VID Working Paper 13/2018, Vienna: ÖAW, 2018 ; and Regional Disparities in Religious Diversification in Austria: The Impact of Migration, Vienna, ÖAW, 2020.

D 21 February 2022    AAstrid Mattes AKerstin Wonisch