Environment at a Glance Indicators

Austria

This country profile features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, and biodiversity. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data.

Context

Austria has an open economy and its citizens enjoy a high standard of living. The country has a strong industrial base: largest sectors are machinery, basic metals, foodstuffs and chemicals.

Austria is a relatively small country (83 900 km²) that is land-locked in central Europe. About 60% of the territory is mountainous and nearly half is forested. Only 32% of the territory lying below 500 metres above mean sea level. Therefore, the space available for settlements is limited to about 38% of the land area, essentially in river valleys and basins, which tend to be prone to natural hazards. Population density is relatively high though Austria is among the least densely populated country in the OECD.

The variety of landscape, altitude and climate engenders a diversity of vegetation. Water is an abundant resource. The country is a large exporter of timber, has important iron ore reserves and some deposits of minerals, lignite, oil and natural gas.

Climate change

GHG emissions

Energy mix

Air quality

Air emissions

Freshwater resources

Waste, materials and circular economy

Municipal waste

Material consumption

Biodiversity

Protected areas

References and further reading

OECD (2013), OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Austria 2013, OECD Environmental Performance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264202924-en.