THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS
Population Structure
The first modern population census in the Austrian Empire was conducted in 1869, after the Ausgleich of 1867.
But census-taking in Austria has a long tradition and dates back to the mid-eighteenth century (cf. Durdik, 1973).
Until 1910 population censuses were held every full decade. World War I interrupted the regular series of
population censuses. The addition of the Burgenland in 1921 made it necessary to count the population of the
new Republic. Only one further population census was organized by the Austrian statistics in 1934. The 1939
German population census included Austria which had been occupied by Germany in 1938.
Population by age (in one-year age groups), sex, and in combination with marital status was collected in the
1880 census. The 1869 census collected age and marital status separately. All censuses after 1880 maintained the
collection of these basic population statistics (Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt, 1979a; 1979b).
Ladstätter (1973) provides documentation of the contents of the population censuses in Austria from 1869 to
1971.
Vital Statistics
The recording of births, deaths, and marriages in the Austrian Empire was already introduced in the first half of
the nineteenth century (1819) and continued until 1913 when most series stop due to World War I. After the war
data were collected only for the Austrian Republic.
During the Austrian Empire disaggregations of these basic demographic variables were introduced at later
stages: deaths by age (infant mortality), births by legitimacy in 1869, stillbirths in 1881. Divorces and legal
separations were introduced in 1882.
There are two different time series of vital statistics available: for the Austrian Empire until 1913 and for the
Austrian Republic which have been calculated back for the territory of the Republic until 1871.
Households and Families
Data on households (Haushaltungen, later Haushalte) were first expressively—using this word—collected in the
population census of 1900. The earlier censuses in 1869, 1880, and 1890 used the dwelling (Wohnpartei) as unit
of investigation. The official report on the 1900 census says that the results for households and for dwellings
(Wohnparteien) are approximately comparable, although several households may of course live in the same
dwelling.
But it must be said that household statistics in Austria before 1900 were only marginally developed: in 1869
only the housing situation in the large cities was investigated; in 1880 household composition with respect to
different categories of household members was presented; in 1890 household size by number of persons and
household composition was included; the 1900 census again only dealt with the large cities. The first really
comprehensive household statistics were published for the 1910 census: households were published by size, by
household composition, and combining composition and profession of the household head. In 1934 these
extensive household statistics were repeated. In 1939, the German household statistics were used also in Austria
(see the chapter on Germany). The 1920 and 1923 censuses did not publish household statistics, but rather
statistics on dwellings (Wohnparteien).
Disaggregations are available for the individual parts of the Austrian Empire. The censuses during the Austrian
Republic presented data for the individual federal states (Bundesländer). The German census of 1939 presented
household statistics by individual Bundesländer.
The definition of a dwelling (Wohnpartei) used from 1869 to 1890 deviates from the household definition,
insofar as several households can live in one dwelling. The number of dwellings as a rule is smaller than the
number of private households, which the 1934 census also demonstrates (Text part, p. 80). (This is the difference
between the household-living and the household-dwelling concept, the latter still used in several European
countries.)
The introduction to the volume on household statistics of the 1910 census gives a definition of the household
and describes the earlier household statistics in Austria (Bureau der K.K. Statistischen Zentralkommission, 1918:
7*f.). The Austrian law of 29 March 1869 on population censuses did not take the household as basic unit
instead of the dwelling (Wohnung and Wohnpartei). ‘Unter Wohnpartei (spaced) wird in der Regel die
Gesamtheit der Bewohner einer Wohnung verstanden, in einem anderen Sinne aber auch das Oberhaupt dieser
Personen’ (p. 7*). This definition was used in the censuses of 1889, 1880, and 1890. In 1900 and 1910 Austrian
statistics assumed the principles of the German household definition (see chapter on Germany) and defined the
household as the basic unit in statistics. A dwelling could contain several households. The household had not
been defined in the 1900 and 1910 census, but actually was the same as the German definition:
Unter Haushaltung, wie in der deutschen Reichsstatistik, (sind) die zu einer wohn- und hauswirtschaftlichen Gemeinschaft
vereinigten Personen verstanden (...), denen einzeln lebende Personen, sofern sie eine besondere Wohnung innehaben und
eine eigene Hauswirtschaft führen, gleich zu halten sind, wogegen andere alleinstehende Personen (Bettgeher) derjenigen
Haushaltung zugerechnet werden, bei der sie wohnen und die für sie die Hauswirtschaft führt, auch wenn sie in der
Haushaltung keine Beköstigung empfangen (p. 7*).
Since 1910 institutional households (prisons, schools, military barracks, etc.) have also been distinguished. In
1900 institutional households were not explicitly surveyed; instead, family households were divided into those
headed by a couple and others, the latter also comprising institutional households.
Household statistics of the censuses since 1910 always used the household definition employed in the 1910
census: the household as the basic unit of investigation and the distinction between the three types of one-person,
family, and institutional households.
The censuses of 1920 and 1923 were only limited censuses caused by the events of the war (housing shortage,
population changes, new state administration and territorial division of the Austrian Republic, etc.).
In 1934 the definitions of 1910 were applied to distinguish the three household types of one-person, family,
and institutional households. The 1939 census was a German census, therefore see the chapter on Germany.
A special investigation on the fertility of married women was first carried out with the 1934 census. The
German census of 1939 also contained a question on the children born to families (see the chapter on Germany
concerning this census). Family statistics in the modern sense of the word were not implemented before 1950.
The 1934 census collected data on marriages contracted since 1890 by the number of children, from 0–10+
children. The results were further differentiated according to period of marriage and region (Bundesland,
political district, large cities).
Remarks (also see introductory Table 6.1)
A-Austrian Republic
Data from 1930 to 1939 have been created by linear extrapolation using the growth rates of the censuses from
1920 to 1934.
AEMP-Austrian Empire
The marital status for the census of 1869 is only available for the age group 15+ and in relative figures.
Estimates of the values for the variables v18, v19, and v20 have been made by reconstructing the absolute
figures from the relative ones. For the variables v16–v17 and v21 the relative values from the census of 1880
have been used to estimate the absolute figures for 1869. It is assumed that there have been no changes in the
proportion of these relations.