Austria is a succinct distillation of Middle European charm. Its "chief crop," John Gunther wrote, "is scenery," but there's much more: a sweetly pervasive musical heritage, a fine mix of modernity and proud tradition, and glorious Vienna, "standing," Jan Morris writes, "like a grandiloquent watchman of history."

• TOTAL AREA: 83,870 sq km

• LAND AREA: 82,444 sq km

• WATER AREA: 1,426 sq km

• POPULATION: 8,192,880

• RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12%

• LANGUAGES: German (official nationwide), Slovene (official in Carinthia), Croatian (official in Burgenland), Hungarian (official in Burgenland)

• GOVERNMENT TYPE: Federal Republic

• CAPITAL CITY: Vienna

• OFFICIAL CURRENCY: euro (EUR)

• TIME ZONE: GMT/UTC -4