Dominique

Country name: Republic of Austria

Year founded: 1124

Population: 8,210,281

Primary language: German, locally also Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian

Ethnic Make-up: Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croations, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4%

Political System: Federal Parliamentary Republic

Year entered the European Union: January 1, 1995

Representative of the European Union (include party): Valentin Inzko

Type of economy: Market economy

Currency: Euro

Current Exchange rate for American Currency: euros pero US dollar – 0.7345 (2008 est.)

GDP: GDP (purchasing power parity) $325 billion
GDP (official exchange rate) $432.4 billion
GDP – real growth rate 1.4%
GDP – per capital (PPP) $39,200
GDP – composition by sector agriculture: 1.9%
Industry: 30.6%
Services: 67.4%

Percentage of trade within the European Union: 34%

Unemployement rate: 3.7%

Chief exports: Germany, Italy, US, Switzerland; machinery and equipment, motor vehicules and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs

Kep imports: Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands; machinery and equipment, motor vehicules, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products, foodstuffs

Major Religions: Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12%

Surrounding countries: It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the South, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

Literary Rate: 98%

One interesting fact: The central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes.