More than one million guest workers are currently employed in Austria, meaning that one in every four workers is foreign.
If you’ve ever visited Vienna, you’ve probably noticed that in certain jobs it’s almost impossible to come across Austrian employees. Personally, I’m more surprised when a Viennese waiter doesn’t speak Hungarian.
Alright, that might be a slight exaggeration—but not far from the truth. Recently, I visited a thermal spa in Burgenland where all the staff in both the self-service restaurant and the café were Hungarian.
It also stood out to me how many Slavic languages could be heard among hotel staff.
But what do the statistics say?
According to official data from Austria’s Ministry of Labour, there were 3,992,000 employees in the country in August 2025, of whom 2,931,000 were Austrian citizens.
This means that currently, one in four workers in Austria is a foreigner. The largest groups traditionally come from Hungary (134,000) and Germany (133,000). Romanians (84,000) hold third place, followed by workers from the former Yugoslavia.
Here’s what the Top 20 looks like:
In addition to those listed above, guest workers have arrived in Austria from 199 other countries. For those curious about the details, you can browse the full statistics below.
- Iran 9501
- India 8235
- China 8111
- Spain 5857
- Philippines 5445
- Greece 5339
- Netherlands 4861
- Iraq 4845
- France 4538
- Citizenship unknown 4308
- United Kingdom 4292
- Serbia and Montenegro 4182
- Arab Republic of Egypt 4019
- Nigeria 3917
- Switzerland 3582
- Somalia 3400
- United States (USA) 3132
- Portugal 3054
- Thailand 2802
- Brazil 2777
- Pakistan 2705
- Albania 2578
- Nepal 2091
- Tunisia 1855
- Vietnam 1820
- Georgia 1642
- Bangladesh 1553
- Armenia 1550
- Sweden 1530
- Colombia 1511
- Morocco 1375
- Belgium 1353
- Mongolia 1301
- Belarus (White Russia) 1152
- Mexico 1109
- Ireland 1101
- Latvia 1071
- Dominican Republic 1048
- Lithuania 1012
- Ghana 972
- Moldova 914
- Japan 894
- Finland 886
- Canada 820
- Sri Lanka 746
- Luxembourg 717
- Israel 698
- Montenegro 694
- Kazakhstan 678
- Peru 651
- Indonesia 638
- Argentina 637
- Australia 637
- South Africa 635
- Denmark 616
- Taiwan 609
- Algeria 586
- Chile 586
- Kenya 573
- Azerbaijan 564
- Republic of Korea 550
- former Czechoslovakia 530
- Lebanon 447
- Gambia 421
- Cuba 405
- Kyrgyzstan 404
- Venezuela 398
- Cameroon 381
- Zaire (Kinshasa) 364
- Ethiopia 361
- Estonia 334
- Ecuador 329
- Jordan 321
- Norway 302
- Uzbekistan 288
- Eritrea 272
- Sudan 262
- Yemen 246
- Malaysia 218
- Cambodia 191
- New Zealand 179
- Uganda 178
- Senegal 168
- Liechtenstein 166
- Cyprus 164
- Tajikistan 164
- Republic of Guinea 153
- Bolivia 153
- Congo (Brazzaville) 149
- Palestine/West Bank-Gaza 146
- Guatemala 123
- Costa Rica 122
- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 120
- former Soviet Union 113
- Libya 110
- Angola 110
- Rwanda 108
- Singapore 106
- Ivory Coast 102
- Zimbabwe 96
- Nicaragua 96
- Iceland 94
- Turkmenistan 94
- Myanmar 93
- Tanzania 93
- Madagascar 78
- Togo 70
- Paraguay 67
- Sierra Leone 64
- Malta 62
- Liberia 61
- Uruguay 61
- Burkina Faso 59
- Mali 58
- Jamaica 57
- El Salvador 52
- Burundi 46
- Mauritius 46
- Honduras 46
- Dahomey 41
- Hong Kong 39
- Namibia 35
- Saudi Arabia 27
- Laos 27
- Zambia 26
- Niger 25
- Gabon 25
- Oman 24
- Haiti 22
- Malawi 20
- Mozambique 20
- Panama 20
- Dominica 19
- Bhutan 18
- Mauritania 18
- Netherlands Antilles 18
- Trinidad and Tobago 18
- Guinea-Bissau 17
- Macao (China) 16
- Kuwait 12
- Qatar 12
- Seychelles 12
- Cape Verde 12
- United Arab Emirates 11
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines 11
- St. Lucia 10
- Chad 9
- Pitcairn 9
- Réunion 8
- Grenada 8
- Solomon Islands 8
- Central African Republic 7
- Botswana 7
- Andorra 6
- Maldives 6
- Equatorial Guinea 5
- Fr. Southern Territories 5
- Greenland (Denmark) 5
- Barbados 5
- Antigua and Barbuda 5
- Guam (USA) 5
- Lesotho 4
- Western Sahara 4
- Puerto Rico (USA) 4
- Tonga 4
- Papua New Guinea 4
- Lesser Antilles 4
- Bahrain 3
- Mayotte 3
- Belize 3
- Bahamas 3
- St. Kitts and Nevis 3
- Fiji 3
- Monaco 2
- Vatican City 2
- Brunei 2
- East Timor 2
- Djibouti 2
- Eswatini (Swaziland) 2
- British Indian Ocean Territory 2
- Falkland Islands (UK) 2
- Cayman Islands 2
- St. Pierre 2
- Turks and Caicos 2
- U.S. Virgin Islands 2
- Western Samoa 2
- American Samoa 2
- San Marino 1
- Comoros 1
- São Tomé and Príncipe 1
- Bermuda 1
- Guadeloupe (France) 1
- Martinique (France) 1
- Suriname (Netherlands) 1
- Aruba 1
- British Virgin Islands 1
- Palau 1
- Mariana Islands (USA) 1
- French Polynesia 1
A.J.
