VIENNA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The population of Austria increased by 72,394 people, or 0.83 percent, in 2016 to reach a total of 8,772,865 at the start of this year, Statistics Austria revealed in new figures on Tuesday.
The growth marks a slowdown, however, with a 1.35 percent population increase seen in 2015. The statistics office said the number of migrants was down 43 percent compared to that year.
Despite this, almost 90 percent of the growth recorded was due to a positive migration balance, while the 87,675 births also saw a relatively high positive birth rate of 7,006 people, with the mortality rate down in all states.
The highest population growth of 1.5 percent was recorded in the national capital of Vienna, continuing a 15-year trend, to bring its total population to just under 1.9 million.
Some 15.3 percent of the total population was recorded as foreign nationals, equating to about 1.34 million people. Of these, just under half was from other EU or EFTA countries.
