Austria mediocre

There is still room for improvement in terms of bureaucracy

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The bureaucratic burden in Austria is lower than in most neighboring countries, but there is still a lot of room for improvement compared to the leaders in Northern Europe. 

The Federation of Austrian Industries has been saying for years that Austria's companies are in danger of suffocating under excessive bureaucracy - now the IV has commissioned its chief economist Christian Helmenstein and his Economica Institute to back up this criticism with a study and figures. The result: although the bureaucratic burden in Austria is lower than in most neighboring countries, the gap to the best performers in Scandinavia and the Baltic states is large.

Austria in the European midfield
Companies in Austria spend up to EUR 15 billion a year on tax returns, annual financial statements, reporting obligations and the like, reports the magazine "Pragmaticus" in its latest report and refers to the Economica study, according to which Austria is in the European midfield with a score of 60 points in the bureaucracy cost index developed by Economica. By way of comparison: Germany and the Czech Republic score significantly worse with 55 points each, while the bureaucratic burden is much greater in Slovakia (37 points), Hungary (46) and Italy (43). Slovenia (61) has roughly the same level as Austria.

Clear north-south divide
Overall, there is a clear north-south divide in the EU: the south-east and south have the lowest scores, which means that the costs and bureaucratic burden are highest in these countries. The bureaucratic costs are particularly low in Finland (83), Sweden (78), Denmark (77), Estonia (73) and the Netherlands (72).

The first edition of the Bureaucracy Cost Index (BKI) for companies with data from 2023 contains a total of 25 indicators for which EU-wide comparable scores are calculated and aggregated into a single index. The indicators were compiled from various international sources by systematically searching databases, indicator collections and existing indices. The CCI is intended to make bureaucratic costs, personnel costs and non-monetary hurdles comparable in all EU countries.