By number of inhabitants

Salzburg ahead of Carinthia: Sixth place is now official

The Lungau region is enjoying population growth.(Bild: Holitzky Roland)

Since the beginning of the year, there have officially been more Salzburgers than Carinthians. A decades-long development has made up for a large deficit. The "problem child" Lungau is growing again.

The changing of the guard was announced years ago. It has been official since the beginning of the year, and this week the statistics authority "Statistik Austria" made it official. Salzburg is now the sixth largest federal state in terms of population and has left Carinthia behind. A year ago, there were a good 600 more Carinthians than Salzburgers. Now there are almost 1700 more Salzburgers than Carinthians.

(Bild: stock.adobe, Krone KREATIV)

The main reason for this is the weak population growth of Salzburg's southern neighbor. While the population increase here was exactly in line with the Austrian average of 0.6 percent, the increase in Carinthia was only 0.1 percent. This development has been on the horizon for decades.

Salzburg has been growing faster than Carinthia almost since records began in the 19th century. As recently as the 1970s, Carinthia was still more than 100,000 inhabitants ahead. Interesting fact: with ten districts, the southernmost federal state not only has four more than Salzburg, but is also almost 2,400 square kilometers larger at almost 10,000 square kilometers. However, the latest figures from Statistics Austria also show interesting developments within Salzburg.

Flachgau remains the district with the most inhabitants
Lungau - Salzburg's "problem child" in terms of population for a long time - is growing again. With just under 20,500 inhabitants at the beginning of the year, it had more inhabitants than at any time since 2016. And Flachgau, which overtook the city as the most populous district in 2022, is continuing to grow rapidly and will probably remain Salzburg's most populous district for longer.

According to the latest figures from the city statisticians, who access the central population register directly and do not wait for Statistics Austria to adjust the data, the city's population is actually already declining.