Where there is an influx

“Rural exodus” is causing the bacon belt to grow further

The view over wide, untouched landscapes apparently counts for little - Lower Austrians are drawn to urban centers and cities.

(Bild: linesadventures)

More and more people have moved to the districts around Vienna in the last ten years. Or to the country's largest cities. The Waldviertel, on the other hand, has lost inhabitants. 

Statistics Austria's population balance for the vast country shows one thing very clearly: the boom regions all border on the federal capital. The districts of Bruck an der Leitha (+14.42 %), Gänserndorf (+10.90 %) and Tulln (+10.42 %) have managed to surpass the 100,000 population mark in the past ten years. The other regions surrounding Vienna have also seen population growth of more than 5 percent - with the exception of Mödling, although this could be due to the price of land there.

The big cities are also booming
The two largest cities in Lower Austria have also recorded significantly above-average immigration rates. The state capital St. Pölten, for example, has gained more than 7,000 main residents since 2015, which corresponds to an increase of 13.29 percent. In Wiener Neustadt, an increase of almost 6,200 residents (+14.4%) means that the city is now close to the 50,000 mark.

Border regions lose inhabitants
The trend is reversed in the much-cited rural areas. The district of Lilienfeld and the border regions in the Waldviertel have recorded a negative population trend since 2015, with the district of Gmünd shrinking the most at -4.89%. The districts of Waidhofen an de Thaya, Horn and Zwettl have also recorded a decline in population. And even Waidhofen an der Ybbs, the most "rural" of all the statutory towns in Lower Austria, has lost inhabitants over the past ten years.