Vienna – The City of Dreams
Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the country’s nine states. Located in east Austria, the city lies close to the borders of Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Vienna is Austria’s cultural, economic, and political center and is home to a rich array of architecture that illustrates the city’s history.
Vienna covers an area of 414.78 km2 (160.15 sq mi). The estimated population is around 2 million people (est. 2020). As the largest city in Austria, Vienna holds around 20% of the total population. Vienna’s metropolitan region is home to almost 2.6 million inhabitants, making it the 10th largest city in the European Union. The city has an estimated population density of 4,049.8/km2.
Composed of 23 municipal districts, Vienna offers an exceptional standard of living to its residents, with excellent health, education, and transportation facilities. Vienna top in terms of quality of life.
As a federal state and the capital of Austria, the city’s mayor plays a double role, acting also as the state governor. The Mayor office is held by Michael Ludwig, elected on 24 May 2018. He is member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO).
Vienna is host to several international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC.
Economy of Vienna
Vienna is Austria’s most important economic center with a gross regional product (GRP) of €93.865 million, around 40% of national GDP. The city’s per capita gross domestic product has grown to more than 180% of the EU average, around €50.000 (est. 2017).
There are an estimated 450,000 business enterprises in Austria, a quarter of which are based in Vienna. Situated at the heart of Europe, the city’s location has long made it a significant distribution center, attracting many foreign companies. With more international firms opting to base their Eastern European headquarters in Vienna, the city has benefited from significant investment and additional jobs.
The service sector forms a significant part of Vienna’s economic structure, with many banking and insurance companies and business-related services. This sector has enjoyed recent innovation and growth, developing new technologies in Biochemistry, telecommunications, and logistics.
Vienna produces more than half of Austria’s capital and consumer goods. Key industries include construction, machinery, metals, paper, and communication equipment.
Primary exports from Vienna include electronics, automobiles, metal goods, textiles, and foodstuffs.
Vienna stands firm as one of Europe’s top tourist destinations, the Tourism Industry being an essential part of the Austria’s GDP.
Infrastructure of Vienna
Vienna benefits from a well-developed and efficient transport system comprising U-Bahn, S-Bahn, buses, streetcars, and local trains.
The city’s extensive train and bus network is the third-largest globally, operating over 3,000 buses, 1,000 trams, and 95 underground stations. Covering over 900 kilometers, the transport system is convenient and popular, transporting over 800 million people per year.
Trains are operated by Österreichischen Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) and offers intercity and international transport. There are departures to major European cities such as Prague, Moscow, and Berlin every two hours.
Vienna’s road network covers over 2,775 kilometers, carrying over 800,000 motor vehicles per year. The city registers around 80,000 new motor vehicles each year.
Vienna also has a well-developed system of bike lanes that cover more than 1,000 kilometers. Combined with the provision of free city bikes, Bicycles take up 8% of total city traffic.
Vienna International Airport is the city’s largest airport, located 19 kilometers southeast of the city center. The airport consists of two runways and the main terminal building with three smaller attached satellite terminals. It handled around 24,392,805 passengers in 2017.
Workforce of Vienna
Vienna has a total recorded workforce of just around one million people.
Vienna’s largest sector is the private sector, with over 65% in the service-providing industry. In recent years, the industry sectors employing the most people were wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, healthcare and social work, manufacturing, public administration, and social security services.
Vienna’s skilled and well-educated workforce attracts many international businesses. Around a quarter of the city’s labor force hold a university standard education, eight percentage points higher than the Austrian average.
Education is a crucial focus for Vienna. As the principal educational center of Austria, Vienna has a large number of academic units and scientific facilities. The city’s higher education system includes nine public and six private universities, the oldest and most prominent of which is the University of Vienna, which is one of the world’s best universities. In 2020, the students number enrolled there was estimated around 90.216. It is also among the best universities in Art and Humanities.
Employees in Vienna are afforded many benefits, including mandatory health insurance, insurance covering work-related illness and accidents, and payments into a pension fund.
Public health insurance covers both doctor’s appointments and routine hospital visits.
Most professionals speak at least one other language, with English taught in schools from fifth grade. High-quality German classes are offered to foreign nationals to help them blend in with the local workforce.
Austrian business people expect reliability and punctuality as a regular part of business etiquette.
Business Costs in Vienna
Austria’s individual income tax rates work on a progressive scale of 0%-55%, with 7 tax brackets:
- Up to €11,000 0%
- €11,000 – €18,000 25%
- €18,000 – €31,000 35%
- €31,000 – €60,000 42%
- €60,000 – €90,000 48%
- €90,000 – €1,000,000 50%
- Over €1,000,000 55%
The Austrian corporate tax rate is 25%, making it an attractive place for companies and investors. Capital gains of companies were set at 25%, and corporations are also expected to pay municipal tax (non-profit related) and property tax.
The standard VAT rate in Austria is 20%, while some reduced VATs of 0%, 10%, 13%, and %20 can be applied to the tourism, food, and agriculture sectors.
Vienna is favorably priced than cities such as Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Brussels.
The annual, all-inclusive rate for an office in Vienna is EUR 328 per square meter. Vienna is one of the most suitably priced locations for office space in Europe.