Amazing Facts about Austria

• Austria is the only European Union nation that is not a member of NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

• Over 60% of Austrian adults are either overweight or obese; this is the highest rate in the European Union.

• The Eisriesenwelt, located in Werfen, Austria, is the largest accessible ice cave system in the world.

• The Austrian flag is one of the oldest national flag in the world. It dates from 1191, when Duke Leopold V fought in the Battle of Acre during the Third Crusade.

• The world's largest emerald (2860 carat) is displayed in the Imperial Treasury of the Hofburg (Imperial Palace) in Vienna.

• Founded in 803 AD, as Stiftskeller St. Peter is one of the oldest restaurants in the world still in operation, and the oldest in Europe.

• About one fourth of the population of Austria lives in the capital, Vienna.

• Austria's average unemployment rate from 1960 to 2013 is 4.59%, the second lowest in the European Union after Luxembourg.

• Among Europeans, Austrian people work the longest, with an average of 45 hours per week.

• The oldest zoological garden in the world is the Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, founded in 1752.

• Austria is one of the most forested countries in Europe with almost half its territory covered in forest

• The Danube river runs through 4 capital cities (Vienna, Austria; Bratislava, Slovakia; Budapest, Hungary; and Belgrade, Serbia), the most in the world.   

• Vienna's Central Cemetery(Zentralfriedhof) has over 2.5 million tombs which is more than the city's live population.