Immigration is keeping Tyrol’s population growing
Sunday 25th October 2026 on 14:30 in
Austria
Tyrol is growing only because more people arrive from abroad than leave, according to ORF. In 2025, the region recorded 2,571 more arrivals from abroad than departures. That year, deaths also outnumbered births for the first time in years, while more residents moved to other Austrian states than moved to Tyrol from them.
About 167,300 residents, or 21.5 percent of Tyrol’s population, were born outside Austria. That is the fourth-highest share among Austria’s states, behind Vienna, Vorarlberg and Salzburg, and slightly below the national average, according to an analysis by the Austrian Integration Fund based on Statistics Austria data.
The number of foreign-born residents has risen by 30 percent since 2016. The largest groups come from Germany, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Italy. Overall, 58.1 percent were born in EU or EFTA countries or the United Kingdom, the second-highest share among Austrian states after Burgenland.
Of the roughly 14,800 people who moved to Tyrol from abroad in 2025, 63.1 percent came from EU or EFTA countries, the highest proportion among the states. About 3,600 came from Germany, 1,100 from Hungary and 1,000 from Romania. There were 730 arrivals from Ukraine.
Foreign citizens in Tyrol had Austria’s highest employment rate in 2025, at 76.5 percent. The employment rate for EU citizens was almost the same as for Austrian citizens. The unemployment rate among foreign citizens was 6.1 percent, compared with 5.4 percent in Burgenland, 11 percent nationwide and 17.1 percent in Vienna.
Foreign employees earned less than Austrian employees. In 2024, their median annual net income was about 30,000 euros, compared with 34,700 euros for Austrian citizens. Foreign citizens’ income was 86.5 percent of the figure for Austrian citizens, the Austrian Integration Fund said. Only Vorarlberg had a smaller gap.
Foreign-born residents were concentrated in urban areas. They made up 36.2 percent of the population of Innsbruck, followed by 27.4 percent in Reutte district and 22.5 percent in Kitzbühel district. Lienz district had the lowest share, at 8.3 percent.