Every Second Austrian Is a Patriot

Almost half of Austria’s population (48%) is proud of their country and around 2/3 of all citizens are happy to live here, according to a recent study by the Center for Future Studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Salzburg (Zentrum für Zukunftsstudien an der Fachhochschule Salzburg). The poll of 1,000 people over the age of 14, was conducted in the week of Oct. 19-26, in advance of the Austrian National Holiday (Nationalfeiertag) as reported in Die Presse.

Austrians in both Burgenland and Tyrol were the most patriotic with 64% of all polled saying that they are proud of their country, closely followed by 60% of Salzburgers. Least patriotic is Vorarlberg, only 17%. Study author Reinhold Popp had no explanation as to why there are such large regional differences. "Maybe it is about regional moods," says Popp as reported by Der Standard.

Only a third of Austrians overall responded positively to their identity as Europeans, although nearly 2/3 (63%) of Tyroleans were and 60% of Salzburgers. "In all EU member states the feeling of belonging to be respective country is much stronger than the feeling of being a citizen of Europe," Popp said, quoted by Der Standard. "There is, however, a clear correlation: the higher one’s education, the stronger the feeling of being an European."