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).

Area	Number	%
Cisleithania [2]	28,571,934	55.6
Transleithania [3]	20,886,487	40.6
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Austro-Hungarian condominium)	1,931,802	3.8
Total	51,390,223	100.0

Largest cities

Data: census in 1910 ^{[4] [5]}

Austrian Empire

Rank	Current English name	Contemporary official name [6]	Other	Present-day country	Population in 1910	Present-day population
1.	Vienna	Wien	Bécs, Beč, Dunaj	Austria	2,031,498 (city without the suburb 1,481,970)	1,840,573 (Metro: 2,600,000)
2.	Prague	Prag, Praha	Prága	Czech Republic	668,000 (city without the suburb 223,741)	1,301,132 (Metro: 2,620,000)
3.	Trieste	Triest	Trieszt, Trst	Italy	229,510	204,420
4.	Lviv	Lemberg, Lwów	Ilyvó, Львів, Lvov, Львов	Ukraine	206,113	728,545
5.	Kraków	Krakau, Kraków	Krakkó, Krakov	Poland	151,886	762,508
6.	Graz		Grác, Gradec	Austria	151,781	328,276
7.	Brno	Brünn, Brno	Berén, Börön, Börénvásár	Czech Republic	125,737	377,028
8.	Chernivtsi	Czernowitz	Csernyivci, Cernăuți, Чернівці	Ukraine	87,128	242,300
9.	Plzeň	Pilsen, Plzeň	Pilzen	Czech Republic	80,343	169,858
10.	Linz		Linec	Austria	67,817	200,841

Kingdom of Hungary

Rank	Current English name	Contemporary official name [6]	Other	Present-day country	Population in 1910	Present-day population
1.	Budapest		Budimpešta	Hungary	1,232,026 (city without the suburb 880,371)	1,735,711 (Metro: 3,303,786)
2.	Szeged		Szegedin, Segedin	Hungary	118,328	170,285
3.	Subotica	Szabadka	Суботица	Serbia	94,610	105,681
4.	Debrecen			Hungary	92,729	208,016
5.	Zagreb		Zágráb, Agram	Croatia	79,038	803,000 (Metro: 1,228,941)
6.	Bratislava	Pozsony	Pressburg, Prešporok	Slovakia	78,223	425,167
7.	Timișoara	Temesvár	Temeswar	Romania	72,555	319,279
8.	Kecskemét			Hungary	66,834	111,411
9.	Oradea	Nagyvárad	Großwardein	Romania	64,169	196,367
10.	Arad	Arad		Romania	63,166	159,074
11.	Hódmezővásárhely			Hungary	62,445	46,047
12.	Cluj-Napoca	Kolozsvár	Klausenburg	Romania	60,808	324,576
13.	Újpest			Hungary	55,197	100,694
14.	Miskolc			Hungary	51,459	157,177
15.	Pécs			Hungary	49,852	145,347

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]

Language	Number	%
German	12,006,521	23.36
Hungarian	10,056,315	19.57
Czech	6,442,133	12.54
Serbo-Croatian	5,621,797	10.94
Polish	4,976,804	9.68
Ruthenian	3,997,831	7.78
Romanian	3,224,147	6.27
Slovak	1,967,970	3.83
Slovene	1,255,620	2.44
Italian	768,422	1.50
Other	1,072,663	2.09
Total	51,390,223	100.00

Cisleithanian states (Austrian Empire)

Land	Main language	Others (if more than 2%)
Bohemia	Czech (63.2%)	German (36.8%)
Dalmatia	Serbo-Croatian (94.6%)	Italian (2.8%)
Galicia	Polish (58.6%)	Ruthenian (40.2%)
Lower Austria	German (95.9%)	Czech (3.8%)
Upper Austria	German (99.7%)
Bukovina	Ruthenian (38.4%)	Romanian (34.4%), German (21.2%), Polish (4.6%)
Carinthia	German (78.6%)	Slovenian (20.7%)
Carniola	Slovenian (94.4%)	German (4.9%)
Salzburg	German (99.7%)
Austrian Silesia	German (43.9%)	Polish (31.7%), Czech (24.3%)
Styria	German (70.5%)	Slovenian (28.4%)
Moravia	Czech (71.8%)	German (27.6%)
County of Tyrol	German (57.3%)	Italian (42.1%)
Austrian Littoral	Italian (39.6%)	Slovenian (29.5%), Serbo-Croatian (18.8%), German (3.1%)
Vorarlberg	German (95.4%)	Italian (4.4%)

Transleithanian lands (Kingdom of Hungary)

In the Kingdom of Hungary, the 1910 census was based on mother tongue.

Ethnic Map of Hungary 1910 with Counties

Land	Mother tongues (1910 census) [7] [13]
Kingdom of Hungary	Hungarian (54.4%), Romanian (16.1%), Slovak (10.7%), German (10.4%), Ruthenian (2.5%), Serbian (2.5%), Croatian (1.8%)
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia	Croatian (62.5%), Serbian (24.6%), German (5.0%), Hungarian (4.1%)

Land	Hungarian	Romanian	German	Slovak	Croatian	Serbian	Ruthenian	Other	Total
Danube Right Bank	72% (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 Bank	32.7% (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-Tisza	81.2% (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 Bank	53.5% (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 Bank	61.8% (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-Maros	22.2% (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)
Transylvania	34.3% (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)
Fiume	13% (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-Slavonia	4% (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)
Total	48.1% (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

Region	Mother Tongues	Hungarian language	Other languages
Transylvania	Romanian – 2,819,467 (54%)	1,658,045 (31.7%)	German – 550,964 (10.5%)
Upper Hungary	Slovak – 1,688,413 (57.9%)	881,320 (30.2%)	German – 198,405 (6.8%)
Délvidék	Serbo-Croatian – 601,770 (39.8%)	425,672 (28.1%)	German – 324,017 (21.4%) Romanian – 75,318 (5.0%) Slovak – 56,690 (3.7%)
Transcarpathia	Ruthenian – 330,010 (54.5%)	185,433 (30.6%)	German – 64,257 (10.6%)
Fiume	Italian – 24,212 (48.6%)	6,493 (13%)	Serbo-Croatian – 13,351 (26.8%) Slovene - 2,336 (4.7%) German - 2,315 (4.6%)
Őrvidék	German – 217,072 (74.4%)	26,225 (9%)	Croatian – 43,633 (15%)
Muravidék	Slovene – 74,199 (80.4%) – in 1921	14,065 (15.2%) – in 1921	German – 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/Confessions	in all of Austria-Hungary	Austrian part	Hungarian part	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Catholics	76.6%	90.9%	61.8%	22.9%
Protestants	8.9%	2.1%	19%	0.3%
Orthodox	8.7%	2.3%	14.3%	43.5%
Jews	4.4%	4.7%	4.9%	0.6%
Muslims	1.3%	0%	0%	32.7%

Subgroups

The ethnic groups of the Austro-Hungarian empire subdivided according to their own sub-ethnic groups and regions they inhabited: ^[14]

Germans

The ethnic germans of the Austro-Hungarian empire spoked a variety of dialects, which the following were spoken in the empire:

• Central Bavarian (Austro-Bavarian) - in Lower and Upper Austria, Styria, Hungary, Northern Carinthia, Moravia, Salzburg, Bohemia, Carniola (mostly in Gottschee), Galicia, Transylvania (by the Landlers), Trieste, Bukovina, Voivodina and Banat, Croatia-Slavonia and Gorizia.

• Southern Bavarian - in North and South Tyrol, Mochèni and Luserna.

• Alemmanic - in Banat, Hungary, Vorarlberg, Galicia and Transylvania.

• Franconian - Northwestern Bohemia, Hungary, Galicia (from the Rhenish Palatinate), Voivodina and Banat, and Bukovina.

• Upper Saxon - in the Erzgebirge in Bohemia, Hungary, Bukovina and Galicia (colonists from Bohemia).

• Sudeten (Silesian) - Bohemia in the Giant Mountains, Moravia in Schönhengstgau and Kuhland  [ cs ], Silesia, Hungary and Galicia in the frontier with Silesia and the Carpathians.

• Low German (Central Franconian) - by the Transylvanian Saxons, Zipser Saxons and in Galicia.

Czechs

The Czechs inhabited the three traditional Czech lands of Bohemia (Čechy), Moravia (Morava) and Silesia (Slezsko), which had their own traditional ethnographical Czech groups (Moravians, Silesians). Further sub-ethnic groups of the Moravians included the Horáci, the Hanáki and the Moravian Wallachians.

Lower Austria was home to a significant Czech population; especially in the capital, Vienna. There was also significant Czech settlements in Galicia and Slavonia (Czechs in Croatia).

Slovaks

The inhabitants of the Moravian Slovakia region (in current-day Czechia) were considered in the 19th century as linguistically, speakers of the Czech language, but ethnically belonging to the Slovak ethnicity.

There were Slovak diaspora communnities in Austria, Hungary proper, Voivodina, Slavonia, Banat and Crișana.

Poles

Subgroups of the Polish population:

• Silesians (Lachs, Vlachs)
• Gorals
• Bukovina Poles

Ukrainians

Ethnographical groups associated or considered part of the Ukrainian ethnic group in the 19th century included:

• Boykos
• Hutsuls
• Rusyns
  • Pannonian Rusyns
• Lemkos
• Lyshaks (living in Maramures and Ugocsa)

See also

• Demographics of the Kingdom of Hungary by county
• Minority Treaties
• Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)
• Treaty of Trianon (1920)

Sources

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

References

1. Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1910, veröffentlicht in: Geographischer Atlas zur Vaterlandskunde an der österreichischen Mittelschulen. K. u. k. Hof-Kartographische Anstalt G. Freytag & Berndt, Wien 1911.
2. Österreichische Statistik, Neue Folge (in German). Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
3. 1910. ÉVI NÉPSZÁMLÁLÁS 1. A népesség főbb adatai községek és népesebb puszták, telepek szerint (1912) | Könyvtár | Hungaricana (in Hungarian). Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 1912. p. 17.
4. Kogutowicz Károly, Hermann Győző: Zsebatlasz: Naptárral és statisztikai adatokkal az 1914. évre. Magyar Földrajzi Intézet R. T., Budapest 1913, S. 69, 105.
5. 1910. ÉVI NÉPSZÁMLÁLÁS 1. A népesség főbb adatai községek és népesebb puszták, telepek szerint (1912) | Könyvtár | Hungaricana (in Hungarian). Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 1912. p. 22.
6. "Donaumonarchie Österreich-Ungarn". Donaumonarchie.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
7. Kocsis, Károly (1996–2000). "V. Népesség és társadalom – Demográfiai jellemzők és folyamatok – Magyarország népessége – Anyanyelv, nemzetiség alakulása" [V. Population and Society – Demographic Characteristics and Processes – Hungary's Population – Development of Mother Tongue and Nationality]. In István, Kollega Tarsoly (ed.). Magyarország a XX. században – II. Kötet: Természeti környezet, népesség és társadalom, egyházak és felekezetek, gazdaság[Hungary in the 20th century – II. Volume: Natural Environment, Population and Society, Churches and Denominations, Economy] (in Hungarian). Szekszárd: Babits Kiadó. ISBN   963-9015-08-3.
8. Kocsis, Károly. "Series of Ethnic Maps of the Carpatho-Pannonian Area".
9. Árpád, Varga E. (1999). Népszámlálások Erdély területén 1850 és 1910 között [Censuses in Transylvania between 1850 and 1910](PDF).
10. "1910. ÉVI NÉPSZÁMLÁLÁS 1. A népesség főbb adatai községek és népesebb puszták, telepek szerint (1912) | Könyvtár | Hungaricana".
11. Taylor 1948, p. 268.
12. Kocsis, Károly; Bottlik, Zsolt. The Changing Ethnic Patterns on the Present-Day Territory Of Hungary (PDF).
13. Fajth, Gáspár; Dr Gyulay, Ferenc; Dr Klinger, András; Dr Harcsa, István; Kamarás, Ferenc; Dr Csahók, István; Dr Ehrlich, Éva (1992). Történeti statisztikai idősorok 1867–1992 I.: Népesség-népmozgalom (in Hungarian). Hungarian Central Statistical Office. ISBN   9789637070433. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
14. von Czoernig, Karl Freiherr (1857). Ethnographie der Oesterreichischen monarchie. Vienna: K.-K. Hof- und staatsdruckerei. p. 74-80. ISBN   9781017094442.

• William R. Shepherd: "Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary", Historical Atlas, 1911

Further reading

• Steidl, Annemarie et al. From a Multiethnic Empire to a Nation of Nations: Austro-Hungarian Migrants in the US, 1870–1940 (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2017). 354 pp.
• King, Jeremy (2024). "Who Is Who? National Classification in Imperial Austria, 1867–1914". The Journal of Modern History. 96 (2): 291–331.