Many English speaking people mixed Austria with Germany. Sometimes they even confuse Austria with Australia! I know its quit funny J but true.
Austria called as Österreich in German language and its much larger neighboring republic to the north, Germany called as Deutschland in local language.
They both speak the same language, but with significant differences, and they share a common history that has made them friends, yet has also left them worlds apart.
Here , we are trying to compare these countries in different perspective .
|Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
|Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia|
|51 00 N, 9 00 E
|47 20 N, 13 20 E|
|Area||total: 357,022 sq km
land: 348,672 sq km
water: 8,350 sq km
|total: 83,871 sq km
land: 82,445 sq km
water: 1,426 sq km
|total: 3,694 km
border countries: Austria 801 km, Belgium 133 km, Czech Republic 704 km, Denmark 140 km, France 418 km, Luxembourg 128 km, Netherlands 575 km, Poland 447 km, Switzerland 348 km
|total: 2,524 km
border countries: Czech Republic 402 km, Germany 801 km, Hungary 321 km, Italy 404 km, Liechtenstein 34 km, Slovakia 105 km, Slovenia 299 km, Switzerland 158 km
|Germans consider the Austrians amusing, charming and quaint.||Austrians consider the Germans humorless, arrogant and rigid.|
|Religion||Germany is roughly divided evenly between Catholics and Protestants, few of whom go to church.||About 75 percent of Austrians are Catholic. They and the Protestant minority (4 percent) rarely attend church.|
|Germans have no pejorative term for Austrians.||Austrians often use the disparaging term “Piefke” (“Kraut/Prussian”) for a German.|
|About 32 percent* of Germans are smokers. Non-smoking laws are enforced||About 43 percent* of Austrians are smokers, but it seems like much more. Non-smoking laws are NOT enforced.|
|Smoking Rates (Percentage) (WHO, 2008)||32% average – males 37.4%, females 25.8%||43% average – males 46.4%, females 40.1%|
|Quoted in “Germany/Austria||The German wants to understand Austrians, but can’t.||The Austrian understands Germans, but doesn’t want to.|