Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine states of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Its capital is

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

. Upper Austria borders

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, as well as the other Austrian states of

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. With an area of 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 ('), 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 The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, with the status of a

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchy, monarchical state or feudalism, feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "prin ...

. By 1550, there was a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

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 The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

was instituted under Emperor Rudolf II and his successor

Matthias Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. Notable people Notable people named Matthias include the following: Religion * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Isca ...

. After a military campaign, the area was under the control of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

for some years in the early 17th century. The

Innviertel The Innviertel (literally German language, German for "Inn Quarter"; officially called the ; ) is a traditional Austrian region southeast of the Inn (river), Inn river. It forms the western part of the States of Austria, state of Upper Austria a ...

was ceded from the Electorate of Bavaria to Upper Austria in the Treaty of Teschen in 1779. During the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Upper Austria was occupied by the

French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

on more than one occasion.

20th century

In 1918 after the collapse of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, the name ''Oberösterreich'' was used to describe the province of the new Austria. After Austria was annexed by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, 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

's leading industrial region. As of 2009, it accounted for approximately a quarter of the country's exports.

Lakes

Gosausee_and_Dachstein_Upper_Austria_Austro-Hungary

* Ausee * Gosauseen * Höllerersee * Nussensee * Oedter See * Pichlinger See * Puckinger See * Rosenhofer Teiche

Demographics

As of January 1, 2021, 1,495,608 people resided in the state, of which 107,318 (7.17 percent) were

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

/ European Economic Area/

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

/ UK citizens and 96,623 (6.46 percent) were third-country nationals. The majority of Upper Austrians are

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. In 2001, 79.4 percent of the people still belonged to the

Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, about 4.4% were members of the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Lutheran Church, 4.0 percent were

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, and 8.8 percent were of no confession. 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. 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 Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Upper Austria received a million

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s. The

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and American armies occupied Upper Austria as hundreds of thousands of people fled from both sides of the land front. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1500 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:25 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:22 shift:(-60,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1527 from:0 till:335 text:335,000 bar:1600 from:0 till:380 text:380,000 bar:1700 from:0 till:450 text:450,000 bar:1754 from:0 till:526 text:526,000 bar:1780 from:0 till:601 text:601,000 bar:1790 from:0 till:623 text:623,000 bar:1800 from:0 till:626 text:626,000 bar:1810 from:0 till:630 text:630,000 bar:1821 from:0 till:652 text:651,911 bar:1830 from:0 till:682 text:682,140 bar:1840 from:0 till:699 text:699,324 bar:1850 from:0 till:706 text:706,316 bar:1857 from:0 till:707 text:707,450 bar:1869 from:0 till:737 text:736,856 bar:1880 from:0 till:760 text:760,091 bar:1890 from:0 till:786 text:786,496 bar:1900 from:0 till:811 text:810,854 bar:1910 from:0 till:854 text:853,595 bar:1923 from:0 till:877 text:876,698 bar:1934 from:0 till:903 text:902,965 bar:1939 from:0 till:928 text:927,583 bar:1951 from:0 till:1109 text:1,108,720 bar:1961 from:0 till:1132 text:1,131,623 bar:1971 from:0 till:1230 text:1,229,972 bar:1981 from:0 till:1270 text:1,269,545 bar:1991 from:0 till:1333 text:1,333,480 bar:2001 from:0 till:1377 text:1,376,797 bar:2011 from:0 till:1413 text:1,412,640 bar:2021 from:0 till:1496 text:1,495,608 TextData= fontsize:M pos:(35,20) text:"Source: Statistik Austria"

Economy

The

Gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

(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.

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. Like Styria, Upper Austria is a swing state that usually has a signal character in nationwide elections. The conservative

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

dominates in rural areas, the Social Democratic Party of Austria has its strongholds in the cities of

, 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

Administrative divisions

Administratively, the state is divided into 15 districts ('' Bezirke''), three Statutarstädte and 438 municipalities.

Statutory cities

# Steyr # Wels

Districts

Braunau

# Eferding # Freistadt # Gmunden # Grieskirchen # Kirchdorf #

Linz-Land Bezirk Linz-Land is a Districts of Austria, district of Upper Austria in Austria. Municipalities Towns (''Städte'') are indicated in boldface; market towns (''Marktgemeinden'') in ''italics''; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a munic ...

# Perg # Ried # Rohrbach # Schärding # Steyr-Land #

Urfahr-Umgebung Bezirk Urfahr-Umgebung () is a Districts of Austria, district of the States of Austria, state of Upper Austria in Austria. It is named after Urfahr, a former city, today a borough of Linz, seat of the district's administration (''Bezirkshauptman ...

# Vöcklabruck # Wels-Land

Historical regions

Historically, Upper Austria was traditionally divided into four regions:

Hausruckviertel The Hausruckviertel is one of the four traditional "quarters" () of the Austrian province of Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and th ...

, Mühlviertel, and

Traunviertel The Traunviertel is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria. It is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria and its name refers to the river Traun which passes through the area. Region The district includes the Linz-Land, St ...

References

External Links

Upper Austria

Tourism
{{Authority control NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union States of Austria