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Upper Austria

*Oberösterreich*
Upper Austria Oberösterreich
State
	Flag Coat of arms
	Anthem: Hoamatgsang;
Country	Austria
Capital	Linz
Government
• Body	Landtag of Upper Austria
• Governor	Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP)
• Deputy Governors	Christine Haberlander (ÖVP); Manfred Haimbuchner (FPÖ);
Area
• Total	11,718.32 km2 (4,524.47 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2023)
• Total	1,522,825
• Density	130/km2 (340/sq mi)
GDP
• Total	€69.994 billion (2021)
• Per capita	€46,700 (2021)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	AT-4
HDI (2022)	0.917; very high · 5th of 9
NUTS Region	AT3
Votes in Bundesrat	12 (of 62)
Website	Official website

Upper Austria (German: Oberösterreich [ˈoːbɐˌ(ʔ)øːstɐraɪç] ^ⓘ; Bavarian: Obaöstareich; Czech: Horní Rakousy [ˈɦorɲiː ˈrakousɪ]) is one of the nine states or Länder of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg. With an area of 11,982 km² (4,626 sq mi) and 1.49 million inhabitants, Upper Austria is the fourth-largest Austrian state by land area and the third-largest by population.

History

Origins

For a long period of the Middle Ages, much of what would become Upper Austria constituted Traungau, a region of the Duchy of Bavaria. In the mid-13th century, it became known as the Principality above the Enns River (Fürstentum ob der Enns), this name being first recorded in 1264. (At the time, the term "Upper Austria" also included Tyrol and various scattered Habsburg possessions in southern Germany.)

Early modern era

In 1490, the area was given a measure of independence within the Holy Roman Empire, with the status of a principality. By 1550, there was a Protestant majority. In 1564, Upper Austria, together with Lower Austria and the Bohemian territories, fell under Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.

At the start of the 17th century, the Counter-Reformation was instituted under Emperor Rudolf II and his successor Matthias. After a military campaign, the area was under the control of Bavaria for some years in the early 17th century.

The Innviertel was ceded from the Electorate of Bavaria to Upper Austria in the Treaty of Teschen in 1779. During the Napoleonic Wars, Upper Austria was occupied by the French army on more than one occasion.

20th century

In 1918 after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the name Oberösterreich was used to describe the province of the new Austria. After Austria was annexed by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator, who had been born in the Upper Austrian town of Braunau am Inn and raised in Upper Austria, Upper Austria became Reichsgau Oberdonau, although this also included the southern part of the Sudetenland, annexed from Czechoslovakia, and a small part of Styria. In 1945, Upper Austria was partitioned between the American zone to the south and the Soviet zone to the north.

Industry

Today Upper Austria is Austria's leading industrial region. As of 2009, it accounted for approximately a quarter of the country's exports.^[3]

Lakes

Demographics

As of January 1, 2021, 1,495,608 people resided in the state, of which 107,318 (7.17 percent) were European Union/European Economic Area/Switzerland/UK citizens and 96,623 (6.46 percent) were third-country nationals.^[4]

The majority of Upper Austrians are Christian. In 2001, 79.4 percent of the people still belonged to the Roman Catholic church, about 4.4% were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4.0 percent were Muslims, and 8.8 percent were of no confession.^[5] By the end of 2020, the proportion of Catholics had fallen to 62 percent, while the corresponding proportion of Protestants was about 3.1 percent of the Upper Austrian population.^[6]

In the last census in 2021, 73.4% of people were Christians, overwhelmingly Catholic, around 7.4% practiced Islam and 17.3% practiced no faith. By the end of 2022, the proportion of Catholics has decreased to 58.9%, and around 3% of the population were members of Austria’s national Lutheran church. At the end of 2023, a good 800,000 of the 1.53 million inhabitants were Catholic and 43,847 or almost 3% were Protestant.

Population development

After World War II, Upper Austria received a million refugees. The Soviet and American armies occupied Upper Austria as hundreds of thousands of people fled from both sides of the land front.^[7]

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1869	736,856	—
1880	760,091	+3.2%
1890	786,496	+3.5%
1900	810,854	+3.1%
1910	853,595	+5.3%
1923	876,698	+2.7%
1934	902,965	+3.0%
1939	927,583	+2.7%
1951	1,108,720	+19.5%
1961	1,131,623	+2.1%
1971	1,229,972	+8.7%
1981	1,269,540	+3.2%
1991	1,333,480	+5.0%
2001	1,376,797	+3.2%
2011	1,413,762	+2.7%
2021	1,504,237	+6.4%
Source: Censuses^[8]

Economy

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 65.9 billion € in 2018, accounting for 17.1% of the Austria's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 39,500 € or 131% of the EU27 average in the same year.^[9]

Politics

The Upper Austrian state constitution defines Upper Austria as an independent state of the democratic Republic of Austria. In its constitution, Upper Austria also declares its support for a united Europe that is committed to democratic, constitutional, social and federal principles as well as the principle of subsidiarity, preserves the autonomy of the regions and ensures their participation in European decision-making. In its regional constitution, Upper Austria defines its position in Europe as an independent, future-oriented and self-confident region that participates in the further development of a united Europe.^[10]

Like Styria, Upper Austria is a swing state that usually has a signal character in nationwide elections. The conservative Austrian People's Party dominates in rural areas, the Social Democratic Party of Austria has its strongholds in the cities of Linz, Wels and Steyr or in the Attnang-Puchheim railroad junction, but the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria has also traditionally had a strong presence, for example in the Innviertel.