With a population of just over 8m, Austria is sparsely populated and benefits from a high standard of living. Austria is one of the 10 richest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita at $44,872, and unlike most of the Eurozone, narrowly escaped recession in 2012/13.

The global credit crisis has exacerbated the split in Europe between the crisis-ridden north and the more affluent south. Fortunately, Austria has found itself firmly in the Northern ‘camp’ and has benefited greatly from its strong social and economic ties to the euro powerhouse – Germany. Austrian economic growth (figure 1) is expected to return to trend at just below 2% in 2014/15 after a 0.4% rise in 2013 and 0.9% in 2012.

With a population of just over 8m, Austria is sparsely populated and benefits from a high standard of living. Austria is one of the 10 richest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita at $44,872, and unlike most of the Eurozone, narrowly escaped recession in 2012/13.