Austria has a population of about 8 million. The national language is German (98%). The remaining 2% speaks Croatian, Slovene, Hungarian or Czech. About 80% of the population is Roman-Catholic, 5% Protestant and 9% non-denominational.
The Austrians are a Bavarian people by origin. An exemption are Vorarlberg and a small part of Tirol (Außerfern), whose population are of Alemanic provenance.
The provinces of Tirol, Salzburg and Vorarlberg were initially populated by Rhaeto-Romans who were gradually displaced by other peoples; only in the Montafon and the Upper Inntal Valley the Rhaeto-Romans remained longer.
When the Bavarians arrived in the south-east, they met with a Slav population, who, on the other hand, had come upon the relics of a Celtic-Roman settlement.
Before and during Carolinian times, the typical settlement consisted of a small hamlet or cluster village with the village lands parceled out. The high medieval settlements in the eastern lowlands already featured planned villages along roads and in the countryside. The peopling of Austria´s mountainous regions took place in different phases and was characterized by isolated farmhouses.
Towns founded during the Roman times include Iuvavum/Salzburg, Ovilava/Wels, Lentia/Linz, Cetium/St. Pölten, Vindobona/Vienna and Brigantium/Bregenz.
