Details
- Publication date
- 1 July 2023
- Country
- Austria
- Topic
- Local level
Description
This empirical study was conducted by the Institute for Social Research and Consulting (the SORA Institute) on behalf of the City of Vienna in 2023. It surveys the opinion of the Viennese population on "living together in Vienna": more than 1 100 Viennese people aged 16 and over, with and without migration experience, were questioned on the topics of immigration and integration.
The survey’s results show that the respondents are divided on how well coexistence works in Vienna: almost half of those surveyed said that they think it works well, while for the other half it works little or not at all. At district and neighbourhood level coexistence was assessed much better, with 58% participants describing it as ‘good’.
The fact that Vienna is a multinational city is underlined by the high number of social contacts that Viennese people maintain with immigrants from other countries: according to the study, two-thirds of Viennese people have friends who have immigrated from another country and almost half of Viennese people have family members from other countries.
The contribution that immigrants make to the city is viewed very positively: around two-thirds of survey respondents said they see positive effects of immigration on the quality of life and the workforce potential in Vienna. The fear that immigration would worsen working conditions in Vienna is not shared by a majority of Viennese people. Nevertheless, 53% of respondents said they believe that there is too much immigration to Vienna, while at the same time a significant 43% are of the opinion that the existing proportion of immigrants in the city is OK or could be higher.
According to the survey, the majority of Viennese people see easier naturalisation in Austria as an important tool for the facilitation of integration. More than two-thirds of those surveyed said they believe that children born in Austria, whose parents have lived in the country for a long time, should automatically be granted citizenship at birth. In addition, according to the study, a majority of the Viennese population is in favour of the general acceptance of dual citizenship and the right to vote for non-citizens who have lived in Vienna for 5 years.