Ethnic and religious composition of Austria-Hungary

The ethno-linguistic composition of Austria-Hungary according to the census of 31 December 1910 was as follows:[1]

Population

Demographics of pre-WW1 Austria (red) and Hungary (green) in Europe
Combined demographics of the Empire of Austria and Kingdom of Hungary (1910).
AreaNumber%
Cisleithania[2]28,571,93455.6
Transleithania[3]20,886,48740.6
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Austro-Hungarian condominium)1,931,8023.8
Total51,390,223100.0

Largest cities

Data: census in 1910[4][5]

Austrian Empire
RankCurrent English nameContemporary official name[6]OtherPresent-day countryPopulation in 1910Present-day population
1.ViennaWienBécs, Beč, DunajAustria2,031,498

(city without the suburb 1,481,970)

1,840,573

(Metro: 2,600,000)

2.PraguePrag, PrahaPrágaCzech Republic668,000

(city without the suburb 223,741)

1,301,132

(Metro: 2,620,000)

3.TriesteTriestTrieszt, TrstItaly229,510204,420
4.LvivLemberg, LwówIlyvó, Львів, Lvov, ЛьвовUkraine206,113728,545
5.KrakówKrakau, KrakówKrakkó, KrakovPoland151,886762,508
6.GrazGrác, GradecAustria151,781328,276
7.BrnoBrünn, BrnoBerén, Börön, BörénvásárCzech Republic125,737377,028
8.ChernivtsiCzernowitzCsernyivci, Cernăuți, ЧернівціUkraine87,128242,300
9.PlzeňPilsen, PlzeňPilzenCzech Republic80,343169,858
10.LinzLinecAustria67,817200,841
Kingdom of Hungary
RankCurrent English nameContemporary official name[6]OtherPresent-day countryPopulation in 1910Present-day population
1.BudapestBudimpeštaHungary1,232,026 (city without the suburb 880,371)1,735,711 (Metro: 3,303,786)
2.SzegedSzegedin, SegedinHungary118,328170,285
3.SuboticaSzabadkaСуботицаSerbia94,610105,681
4.DebrecenHungary92,729208,016
5.ZagrebZágráb, AgramCroatia79,038803,000 (Metro: 1,228,941)
6.BratislavaPozsonyPressburg, PrešporokSlovakia78,223425,167
7.TimișoaraTemesvárTemeswarRomania72,555319,279
8.KecskemétHungary66,834111,411
9.OradeaNagyváradGroßwardeinRomania64,169196,367
10.AradAradRomania63,166159,074
11.HódmezővásárhelyHungary62,44546,047
12.Cluj-NapocaKolozsvárKlausenburgRomania60,808324,576
13.ÚjpestHungary55,197100,694
14.MiskolcHungary51,459157,177
15.PécsHungary49,852145,347

Languages

Distribution of the German language in Austria-Hungary in 1910
Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910. (Rusyns are registered as Ukrainians)

In the Austrian Empire (Cisleithania), the census of 1911 recorded Umgangssprache, everyday language. Jews and those using German in offices often stated German as their Umgangssprache, even when having a different Muttersprache. The Istro-Romanians were counted as Romanians.

In the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania), the 1910 census was based on mother tongue.[7][8][9][10] According to the census, 54.4% of the inhabitants of Hungary were recorded to speak Hungarian as their native language.[7] This number included the Jewish ethnic group (around 5% of the population[11]) who were overwhelmingly Hungarian-speaking (the Jews tending to declare German as mother tongue due to the immigration of Jews of Yiddish/German mother tongue).[12]

LanguageNumber%
German12,006,52123.36
Hungarian10,056,31519.57
Czech6,442,13312.54
Serbo-Croatian5,621,79710.94
Polish4,976,8049.68
Ruthenian3,997,8317.78
Romanian3,224,1476.27
Slovak1,967,9703.83
Slovene1,255,6202.44
Italian768,4221.50
Other1,072,6632.09
Total51,390,223100.00

Cisleithanian states (Austrian Empire)

LandMain languageOthers (if more than 2%)
BohemiaCzech (63.2%)German (36.8%)
DalmatiaSerbo-Croatian (94.6%)Italian (2.8%)
GaliciaPolish (58.6%)Ruthenian (40.2%)
Lower AustriaGerman (95.9%)Czech (3.8%)
Upper AustriaGerman (99.7%)
BukovinaRuthenian (38.4%)Romanian (34.4%), German (21.2%), Polish (4.6%)
CarinthiaGerman (78.6%)Slovenian (20.7%)
CarniolaSlovenian (94.4%)German (4.9%)
SalzburgGerman (99.7%)
Austrian SilesiaGerman (43.9%)Polish (31.7%), Czech (24.3%)
StyriaGerman (70.5%)Slovenian (28.4%)
MoraviaCzech (71.8%)German (27.6%)
County of TyrolGerman (57.3%)Italian (42.1%)
Austrian LittoralItalian (39.6%)Slovenian (29.5%), Serbo-Croatian (18.8%), German (3.1%)
VorarlbergGerman (95.4%)Italian (4.4%)

Transleithanian lands (Kingdom of Hungary)

In the Kingdom of Hungary, the 1910 census was based on mother tongue.[7][8]
Ethnic Map of Hungary 1910 with Counties
LandMother tongues (1910 census)[7][13]
Kingdom of HungaryHungarian (54.4%), Romanian (16.1%), Slovak (10.7%), German (10.4%), Ruthenian (2.5%), Serbian (2.5%), Croatian (1.8%)
Kingdom of Croatia-SlavoniaCroatian (62.5%), Serbian (24.6%), German (5.0%), Hungarian (4.1%)
LandHungarianRomanianGermanSlovakCroatianSerbianRuthenianOtherTotal
Danube Right Bank72% (2,221,295)0% (833)18% (555,694)0.6% (17,188)5.5% (168,436)0.5% (15,170)0% (232)3.4% (105,556)14.8% (3,084,404)
Danube Left Bank32.7% (711,654)0% (704)6.6% (144,395)58.8% (1,279,574)0.1% (2,294)0% (200)0% (393)1.7% (36,710)10.4% (2,175,924)
Danube-Tisza81.2% (3,061,066)0.1% (4,813)9.5% (357,822)2.1% (79,354)0.1% (4,866)4.1% (154,298)0.3% (11,121)4.1% (96,318)18% (3,769,658)
Tisza Right Bank53.5% (945,990)0.1% (1,910)5.6% (98,564)25% (441,776)0% (486)0% (247)14.3% (253,062)1.6% (27,646)8.5% (1,769,681)
Tisza Left Bank61.8% (1,603,924)24% (621,918)3.2% (83,229)3.1% (81,154)0% (327)0% (321)7.5% (194,504)0.3% (8,547)12.4% (2,594,924)
Tisza-Maros22.2% (474,988)39.5% (845,850)19.9% (427,253)2.1% (44,715)0.2% (4,950)13.6% (290,434)0.1% (3,188)2.4% (50,391)10.3% (2,141,769)
Transylvania34.3% (918,217)55% (1,472,021)8.7% (234,085)0.1% (2,404)0% (523)0% (421)0.1% (1,759)1.8% (48,937)12.8% (2,678,367)
Fiume13% (6,493)0.3% (137)4.6% (2,315)0.4% (192)26% (12,926)0.9% (425)0% (11)54.8 (27,307, mostly Italian)0.2% (49,806)
Croatia-Slavonia4% (105,948)0% (846)5.1% (134,078)0.8% (21,613)62.5% (1,638,354)24.6% (644,955)0.3% (8,317)2.6% (67,843)12.6% (2,621,954)
Total48.1% (10,050,575)14.1% (2,949,032)9.8% (2,037,435)9.4% (1,967,970)8.8% (1,833,162)5.3% (1,106,471)2.3% (472,587)2.2% (469,255)100% (20,886,487)

Historical regions

RegionMother TonguesHungarian languageOther languages
TransylvaniaRomanian – 2,819,467 (54%)1,658,045 (31.7%)German – 550,964 (10.5%)
Upper HungarySlovak – 1,688,413 (57.9%)881,320 (30.2%)German – 198,405 (6.8%)
DélvidékSerbo-Croatian – 601,770 (39.8%)425,672 (28.1%)German – 324,017 (21.4%)
Romanian – 75,318 (5.0%)
Slovak – 56,690 (3.7%)
TranscarpathiaRuthenian – 330,010 (54.5%)185,433 (30.6%)German – 64,257 (10.6%)
FiumeItalian – 24,212 (48.6%)6,493 (13%)Serbo-Croatian – 13,351 (26.8%)
Slovene - 2,336 (4.7%)
German - 2,315 (4.6%)
ŐrvidékGerman – 217,072 (74.4%)26,225 (9%)Croatian – 43,633 (15%)
MuravidékSlovene – 74,199 (80.4%) – in 192114,065 (15.2%) – in 1921German – 2,540 (2.8%) – in 1921

The Germans in Croatia were mainly living in the eastern parts of the country where they had been settled along the Drava and Danube rivers, and the former Military Frontier (Militärgrenze), after the Habsburg (re)conquest of the area from the Ottomans in 1687.

Religions

Map of religions, from Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas
Religions/Confessionsin all of Austria-HungaryAustrian
part
Hungarian
part
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Catholics76.6%90.9%61.8%22.9%
Protestants8.9%2.1%19%0.3%
Orthodox8.7%2.3%14.3%43.5%
Jews4.4%4.7%4.9%0.6%
Muslims1.3%0%0%32.7%

See also

Sources

  • Taylor, A.J.P. (1948). The Habsburg Monarchy 1809–1918 – A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. London: Hamish Hamilton.

References

Further reading