Press Releases

Compared to last year, more people in the "How we are today" survey reported improvements in their income situation. However, 13 percent of respondents still say they are struggling to make ends meet with their current income. The results also show that unemployment in a household is linked to increased financial difficulties and lower overall satisfaction.

Overweight and obesity are becoming increasingly widespread in Austria. Statistics Austria reports that nearly 35% of people over the age of 15 are overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²), with about 17% classified as obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²).

A recent study by the Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna (IHS), based on data from 2019, reveals that more than 8% of deaths (under the age of 85) and just under 5% of Austria’s healthcare costs are linked to obesity, and this trend is on the rise. Individuals with severe obesity at age 45 can expect to lose nearly 5 years of life or close to 10 years of healthy life. In 2019 alone, obesity contributed to the deaths of approximately 4,000 people in Austria.

The Joint Economic Forecast Project Group forecasts a 0.1% decline in Germany's gross domestic product in 2024. Looking further ahead, the institutes expect a weak recovery with growth of 0.8% (2025) and 1.3% (2026). Compared to the spring forecast, this represents a downward revision of 0.2 (2024) and 0.6 (2025) percentage points. “In addition to the economic downturn, the German economy is also being weighed down by structural change,” says Dr. Geraldine Dany-Knedlik, head of Forecasting and Economic Policy at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). “Decarbonization, digitalization, and demographic change – alongside stronger competition with companies from China – have triggered structural adjustment processes that are dampening the long-term growth prospects of the German economy.”

In the latest report of the "So geht's uns heute" study, for the first time since the survey began, more people state that their income situation has improved rather than deteriorated. Nevertheless, over a third of respondents are worse off with their household income than at the beginning of 2023. The results indicate that wage increases have not been able to sufficiently offset the rise in the cost of living.  

Since the last quarter of 2023, Austria’s economy has been growing quarter-on-quarter, albeit slowly. The economy should gain momentum in the second half of this year as export demand from the euro area picks up. As a result, GDP should increase by 0.3 % in the current year and by 1.6 % in the coming year.

Survey data collected in the latest round of the European Social Survey (ESS) is now available for 13 countries. Round 11 data has been published for Austria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The data is available from the ESS Data Portal and is published with design weights only. Post-stratification weights will be added when data from the majority of countries is available later this year.

To promote the exchange of different opinions, counteract polarization, and strengthen trust in institutions, democratic innovations are essential, particularly in times of crisis. The "Österreich am Wort" citizen assembly was set up by the federal government to process the COVID19-crisis and was scientifically investigated by IHS researchers. Results show that citizen assembly can be an effective tool.

The aim of the European Green Deal is to make Europe a climate-neutral continent by 2050. To achieve this, it is also necessary to mobilise private mobilise private investment.

According to Germany’s five leading economic research institutes, the country’s economy shows cyclical and structural weaknesses. In their spring report, they revised their GDP forecast for the current year significantly downward to 0.1 percent. In the recent fall report, the figure was still 1.3 percent. Expectations for the coming year are almost unchanged at 1.4 percent (previously 1.5 percent). However, the level of economic activity will then be over 30 billion euros lower due to the current weak phase.

For the first time since the "How we are today" survey began, more respondents expect their income to improve in the coming 12 months than expect it to deteriorate.

The Austrian economy has made a weak start to the current year. However, in the second half of the year, with increasing demand from private households due to rising real income and a brightening of the economy in the euro area, the domestic economy should return to a moderate growth path.

In recent decades, women have caught up significantly in terms of educational qualifications and surpassed men. In 2022, we found that 30 percent of women between 25 and 49 are university educated, compared to only 23 percent of men in this age group. 20 years earlier, the proportion of female university graduates was still significantly lower at 13 percent and only slightly higher than for men (11percent). However, this catching-up process in education has not yet led to equality in the labor market.

As of January 1, 2024, the research groups "Energy, Environment and Sustainable Economic Structures" and "European Governance, Public Finance and Labor Market" at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) will have new heads.

The new report of the "Ho we are today" study deals with the social consequences of the crisis in the third quarter of 2023 and focuses in particular on the regional differences between urban and rural areas.

The new report of the "How we are today" study sheds light on developments over the past seven survey waves.

The GigClean research project focussed on domestic cleaning workers in the gig economy in Vienna. The results were presented at an online press conference on 29 November.

In the current wave of the "So geht's uns heute" survey, a quarter of respondents expect their household income to decrease.

According to the Joint Economic Forecast, Germany's gross domestic product declines by 0.6% in 2023. This is a strong downward revision of 0.9 percentage points from the forecast made in spring 2023. "The most important reason for this revision is that industry and private con­sumption are recovering more slowly than we expected in spring," says Oliver Holtemöller, Vice President and Head of the Macroeconomics Department at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).