Distillers Austria
A one-page guide to Austria for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Vienna
- Official languages
- German (Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene regionally official)
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Time zone
- UTC+1 (UTC+2 summer)
- Area
- 83,879 km²
People
- Population
- 9.2 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 0.3% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 69.7%
- Aged under 15
- 14.1%
- Aged 65 and over
- 21.1%
- Life expectancy
- 82.0 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$579.5 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$62,930 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 0.62% (2025)
- Inflation
- 3.53% (2025)
Climate
Cool to temperate, alpine in most of the country (Alps cover nearly three-quarters). Winter roughly -10 to 0 C; summer averages in the mid-20s C; the east (Danube valley, Pannonian plain) is continental and drier. Record high 40.5 C (August 2013).
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- Purchase 16 for beer, wine and cider; 18 for distilled drinks (set per federal state, harmonised January 2019)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 11.6 litres of pure alcohol (2024)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); World Bank API (population, area, GDP, growth, inflation); WHO GHO OData (SA_0000001688); UN Comtrade public preview API (HS 2208); Wikipedia: Austria; Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; EU excise duty tables (position at 1 July 2021); Your Europe: alcohol allowances for travellers entering the EU; Excise rate source - Austria. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.