Vienna’s Population 2025 - Facts and Figures on Migration and Integration

Development of Vienna’s population

Over the past 60 years, Vienna has experienced a very dynamic population development. Within just a few decades, population numbers in the city first went from stagnant to shrinking and then started to grow rapidly. At the same time, what was once an ageing city turned into a young metropolis - mainly due to international immigration.

The fall of the Iron Curtain, the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Austria’s accession to the EU in 1995, the EU enlargements in 2004, 2007, and 2013, and migration in the wake of conflicts and wars, especially from Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine, have caused the City of Vienna to grow significantly. Today, Vienna is the 5th largest city in the EU due to immigration. At the beginning of 2025, Vienna had a population of 2,028,289 residents.

Vienna’s population by Citizenship and Country of Birth

The immigration of mainly young people is clearly reflected in the composition of Vienna’s population. At the beginning of 2025, 36.4 per cent of Vienna’s residents held foreign citizenship, 40.9 per cent were born abroad and 46.3 per cent had a migration background- that is, they either held foreign citizenship or were Austrian nationals born abroad.

Composition of Vienna’s Population by Origin

As of early 2025, 939,732 people in Vienna were of foreign origin. The main countries of origin have changed little over the past years: at the beginning of 2025, 98,940 people had origins in Serbia, 77,270 in Turkey, 74,185 in Germany, and 65,510 in Syria.

Population of Foreign Origin by Municipal Districts

In 2025, 46.3 per cent of Vienna’s residents were of foreign origin. In six municipal districts, more than half of the population was of foreign origin – namely Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus (since 2015), Brigittenau (since 2018), Favoriten (since 2021), Margareten (since 2022), Meidling (since 2024), and Ottakring (since 2025). By contrast, Hietzing had the lowest share of residents of foreign origin, at 33.5 per cent.

Migration between Vienna and Abroad

Each year, tens of thousands of people move to Vienna from abroad or from Vienna to another country. In 2024, 48,285 people moved from Vienna to another country, while 68,168 people moved to Vienna from abroad. The difference between immigration and emigration results in Vienna’s migration balance with other countries. In 2024, the migration balance was +19,883 people, which was 2,076 fewer than the year before.

Since 2022, for the third time in a row, more people from non-EU countries than from EU or EFTA states have moved to Vienna - mainly due to the war in Ukraine and family reunifications. In 2024, 30.7 per cent of immigrants from abroad to Vienna held EU or EFTA citizenship.

Viennese Residents without Voting Rights

In Austria, the right to vote is tied to Austrian citizenship. Viennese residents who do not hold Austrian citizenship are not entitled to vote in municipal, provincial or federal elections. Thus, an increasing part of Vienna's population is excluded from the most prominent form of political participation. At the beginning of 2024, 34.6 per cent of Vienna's residents above the voting age of 16 were not allowed to participate in federal, provincial or municipal elections.

• 64.4 per cent of Vienna’s voting-age residents held Austrian citizenship and were therefore eligible to vote at any level.
• 15.1 per cent were EU citizens and thus eligible to vote at the district level.
• 20.5 per cent were third-country nationals and not eligible to vote at any level.

The largest share of disenfranchised residents is among those aged 25 to 44. At the beginning of 2025, 299,172 people in this age group (46.4 per cent) were excluded from voting at the municipal, state, and federal levels due to their foreign citizenship.

Youth and Young Adults in Vienna

On January 1st, 2025, Vienna counted 216,759 young people aged 16 to 24. Of these, 42.4 per cent (91,937 people) were foreign nationals. 45.7 per cent of young people in this age group were of foreign origin. The most common countries of origin among young people in Vienna were Syria (12,817 people), Germany (8,861), and Ukraine (8,054). Ukraine appeared for the first time in 2025 among the top three countries of origin of young people in Vienna.

The share of young people with a migration background varies greatly across districts—much lower in Liesing (32.7 per cent) and Hietzing (32.7 per cent) compared to Brigittenau (56.1 per cent) or Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus (54.6 per cent).

In 2024, 19,054 young people aged 16 to 24 immigrated to Vienna from abroad. Most EU migrants came from Germany, Romania, and Hungary. Among non-EU nationals, the largest groups came from Ukraine, Syria, and the Russian Federation. Many young people also moved to Vienna from other Austrian provinces (11,105 in 2024). Notably, 71.3 per cent of all young Syrians who moved to Vienna in 2024 came from other Austrian provinces.

Young foreign nationals are disproportionately affected by exclusion from voting rights: 42.4 per cent of Vienna’s 16 to 24-year-olds were not eligible to vote at the federal, state, or municipal level.

Publications

• Vienna’s Population. Facts and Figures on Migration and Integration 2025 - Spotlight on Youth and Young Adults (German)
• Integration and diversity monitoring 2020 - including links to download the Monitor
  The 2023 Integration monitor will be published in November 2023.

Printed copies of these publications can be ordered via the Ordering Service of the City of Vienna.