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Vienna’s Muslims ‘to double in 30 years’

Vienna’s religious landscape is changing - with a decline in the number of Catholics and Christians and an increase in the number of Muslims due to immigration and secularization.

Published: 19 November 2014 11:08 CET

Vienna's Muslims 'to double in 30 years'

A Muslim man in a mosque in Floridsdorf. Photo: APA/Techt

A study by the Vienna-based WIREL project showed that in 30 years time only one third of the capital will be Catholic and the proportion of Muslims will almost double to 21 percent.

Researchers estimate that Vienna is currently around 41 percent Catholic, four percent Protestant, nine percent Orthodox (mainly Serbian), 12 percent Muslim and 0.5 percent Jewish. Three percent are other religions and 30 percent are atheist or agnostic.

Ramon Bauer from the WIREL project said that since the 1970s Viennese people have been leaving the Catholic church and increased migration has contributed to an increase in Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

“The trend is towards the privatization and individualization of religion,” Bauer said. He added that Vienna’s diverse religions is not typical of the rest of Austria’s states, where the Catholic church still plays a leading role.

One reason why the number of Muslims and Orthodox Christians is expected to rise in future is that they are seen as relatively “young” religions – with Muslim youth the most religious of their age group. The population of Orthodox Christians is expected to grow from nine to 11 percent.

The population of Catholics is predicted to sink to 33 percent.

“Future birth rates will play a role in the expansion of religions and religion tends to be inherited,” Bauer said. Muslim and Jewish women tend on average to have more children, he added.

He said there is also a trend towards interfaith partnerships in Vienna although religion will often play a less significant role and interfaith families tend to have less children.

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Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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