Migration reshapes Salzburg’s cities and tourist towns

More than a quarter of Salzburg’s population has a migration background, with people concentrated mainly in cities, urban areas and tourism municipalities, ORF reports. After Vienna and Vorarlberg, Salzburg has Austria’s highest share of residents with a migration background.

According to Statistics Austria, this means that people themselves or one of their parents were born abroad. In Salzburg, many live in cities and urban centres, as well as tourism municipalities such as Bad Gastein in the Pongau region.

Almost 70 percent of residents born abroad come from Europe, including EU member states and the successor states of Yugoslavia. Germans remain the largest group.

Austria’s population is now growing only through immigration. Since 2020, more people have died in the country than have been born.

Statistics Austria said the educational attainment of people who migrated to Austria had improved. Almost one-third, or 27 percent, have a university degree, compared with 23 percent of people without a migration background. At the same time, people with a migration background are much more likely to have only completed compulsory schooling: 23 percent compared with 8 percent among those without a migration background.

Three-quarters of migrants, or 75 percent, said they felt strongly connected to Austria. The share was particularly high among people from Syria, at 83 percent, and Afghanistan, at 80 percent. Among people from Ukraine, it was 66 percent.

Migrants are considerably more satisfied than people without a migration background with the coexistence of different cultures in Salzburg. Those who frequently have contact with migrants view it particularly positively, while people with little or no contact are more reserved in their assessment.