Environment—current issues: some forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe
Environment—international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol
Geography—note: landlocked; strategic location at the crossroads of central Europe with many easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys; major river is the Danube; population is concentrated on eastern lowlands because of steep slopes, poor soils, and low temperatures elsewhere
People
Population: 8,139,299 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 17% (male 702,261; female 666,310)
15-64 years: 68% (male 2,792,484; female 2,713,397)
65 years and over: 15% (male 478,071; female 786,776) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.09% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 9.62 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 10.04 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: 1.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)