Austria is a country of Central Europe with a size of about 83,859 square kilometers (32,378 square miles). Landlocked, it is surrounded by Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Austria's longest river is the Danube, which is a navigable waterway connecting Austria with Germany and its neighbors in the east, as well as the Balkan states (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia), the Black Sea, and other European coastal countries. Austria has warm, rainy summers; winter brings snow and moderately cold temperatures. This, combined with numerous mountains and forests covering two-thirds of the country's terrain, provides the perfect atmosphere for all types of winter sports.

In late 2002 Austria's population numbered some 8.067 million people. Almost all Austrians (98%) speak German. According to the 2001 National Census, most of the country's inhabitants were Roman...