Austria
The climate
The greater part of Austria lies in the cool/temperate climate zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. With over half of the country dominated by the Alps the alpine climate is the predominant one. In the East, in the Pannonian Plain and along the Danube valley, the climate shows continental features with less rain than the alpine areas. The temperatures are between 20 and 30 degrees in the summer and around 0 in the winter.
Language
German is spoken by more than 120 million people in the world, in Germany, in Austria, in Switzerland, in Liechtenstein, in Luxemburg, in certain regions of Belgium, in northern Italy and Eastern France.
The country
Austria is a landlocked country in central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Its capital city is Vienna.
Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy consisting of nine federal states and is one of six European countries that have declared permanent neutrality and one of the few countries that included the concept of everlasting neutrality in their constitution. Austria is a member of the United Nations (since 1955) and the European Union (since 1995).
Austria is a largely mountainous country due to its location in the Alps and has a total area of 84'000 km² and a population of approx. 8 millions.
