Consumer durables in private households

The availability of consumer durables in private households and living standard indicators were surveyed regularly from the beginning of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s within the Microcensus Special Surveys. Since these living standard indicators are an important additional information in the context of households‘ expenditures and income, they were integrated into the questionnaire of the Household Budget Survey from 1999/2000 onwards.

A number of consumer durables is also surveyed in EU-SILC, see tables 2.1a to 2.2b (available in German only). More detailed information about computer and Internet usage is provided in the survey on the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) in private households.

Consumer durables in private households 2019/20

Mobility

In 2019/20 77% of all households in Austria had at least one car. While in rural areas 87% held a car, in Vienna only 53% of households owned a car. Households in Lower Austria, Upper Austria (87% each) and Burgenland (85%) had the highest rate of car ownership. 22% of households did without a motor vehicle since they had neither a car, a motorbike nor a moped.

Communication

The decrease in landline telephone connections which had been observed since the late 1990s continued. While 15 years ago 71% of households had a landline telephone, in 2009/10 just 59% and in 2014/15 only 43% of households had one. Up until 2019/20 these figures were still on the decrease and reached 31%. On the other hand, in 2004/2005 80% of households had at least one mobile phone, in 2019/20 already 97% of households owned at least one. The increase in internet availability is equally remarkable: While 2009/10 around two thirds of households had access to the internet, in 2019/20 88% of households were connected.

Precautionary insurance

The number of households with at least one household member who is covered by life insurance and/or a pension policy declined slightly from 46% in 2014/15 to 41% in 2019/20. Regarding health/accident insurance policies the numbers remained stable with 52% having such an insurance policy in 2014/15 and 53% in 2019/20. As far as credit card coverage is concerned, in 2009/10 44% of the households had at least one household member who had a credit card, in 2014/15 this percentage had risen to 53% and in 2019/20 there were 62% of households with at least one person who owned this kind of monetary medium.

Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.

Results (overview): Communication, consumer durables and financial protection


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