Austria is a highly developed industrialised country with a well-developed market economy and an important service sector. It has a high standard of living and is closely tied to the other economies of the European Union. During the last decade of the 20th century and the first of the 21st, Austria made major steps in order to enhance economic efficiency and modernise its national economy. This has as a result the creation of an economic environment that created a solid foreign demand for Austrian exports and record employment growth. Nevertheless, the global economic crisis of 2008 led the Austrian economy to a recession. 

As it is already mentioned, Austria has an important service sector. It is indicative that the tertiary sector (services, banking, public services, commerce, transport, tourism) contributes the major share to Austria’s GDP with 67%, whereas. The primary sector (agriculture and forestry) accounts for only about 2% of Austria’s GDP and the secondary sector (commodities manufacture, energy, mining) makes up about 31%. 

The main industries that the country is activated are foodstuffs and luxury commodities, mechanical engineering and steel construction, chemicals and vehicle manufacturing. Additionally, Austria is activated in the vehicle sector and especially in the production of engines and transmissions which are accounting for an export quota in excess of 90%. Austria produces some 800,000 engines per year for many major car manufacturers. Furthermore, Austria is activated in the electronic engineering field, as the country has made a name for itself with the production of customised electronics products like microprocessors and integrated circuits (chips for airbags, ABS braking systems; components for Airbus airliners and for high-speed trains, etc.). As it is already mentioned, agriculture plays a minor role in the economic status quo of Austria. This is highlighted by the percentage of persons employed in agriculture and forestry which amounts to only 5.4% of the total workforce. Despite this fact, Austria is a pioneer in European Union in the creation of organic farms. With an overall share of 11.9% organic farms, Austria has a leading position among the EU Member States in this new agricultural trend. Another important pillar of the Austrian economy is tourism. Austria has capitalised its pictures que and mountainous landscape and created a prosperous tourist industry. In 2006, almost 32 million tourists visited Austria; seven out of ten are foreign tourists. Visitors from Germany make up the vast majority of guests in Austria and follow Netherlands, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, the United Kingdom, Italy and Hungary.

Austria is also enriched with raw materials. It has deposits of iron ore, non-ferrous metals, important minerals and earths. Despite this fact the constant growth of the industrial sector increased the requirements on raw material and necessitated the import of raw materials. Furthermore, Austria has its own resources of petroleum and natural gas. Additionally, the generation of hydroelectric power is constantly being expanded, making Austria the number one country in this sector of energy generation in the European Union.

Austria has been a member state of the European Union since 1995. This has created a specific socio-economical environment in the country which extended beyond the economic aspects and included, in particular, trade, agricultural, regional, tax and monetary policies. This had been reaffirmed with the introduction of euro banknotes and coins on January 1st, 2002.

Austria is a modern and self-confident state. Important steps towards the creation of a viable economy have been made through the last years. Though is of a decisive importance that these efforts should be continued.