Upper Austria

Official Name:  State of Upper Austria  

Area: 11.981,74 square kilometers
Population: 1,4 million
Capital City: Linz
Official Language(s): German
Currency: Euro

The sustainable growth of employment and a low unemployment rate are the result of a highly-motivated and highly-qualified workforce and flexible and innovative companies presenting an ideal mixture of large, small and medium-sized companies. Like no other region in the EU, Upper Austria encourages cooperation in networks. Analogous to the largest branches of industry, since 1998 a total of eight branch-specific clusters and four cross-industry networks have been founded. Based on the motto "innovation via cooperation and competence" more than 2,200 partners are interconnected in cluster initiatives - in particular companies in the following branches: automobiles, plastics, furniture and wood construction, medical engineering, mechatronics, environmental engineering, eco energy or food stuffs. 85 percent of them are SMEs.

GDP nominal: 47,3 billion Euro (2008)
GDP per head: 33.536 Euro (2008)
Inflation: 0,5 percent (2009)
Economic growth real: 2,1 percent (2008)
Unemployment rate: 4,9 percent (2009)

POLITICS
Dr. Josef Pühringer is Governor of Upper Austria since March 2nd, 1995.

The State Parliament of Upper Austria is elected every six years by the citizens of Upper Austria entitled to vote (as of the age of 16) and has 56 members who belong to four political parties. Generally, the Governor, in his capacity as the central agent of the Federal administration, and the State Government of Upper Austria are responsible for law enforcement. The latter comprises nine members who are elected by the State Parliament of Upper Austria. This is, in essence, a "national unity government”. This means that every party in the State Parliament of Upper Austria with a certain number of deputies has at least one seat in the State Government of Upper Austria.