While the inflation rate was 5.0 percent overall in January, it rose 1.5 percentage points more in rural areas, at 5.6 percent, than in cities with more than 100,000 residents, where inflation was 4.1 percent. This is shown by Statistics Austria data evaluated by OGM and APA.
OGM study author Johannes Klotz attributes the higher rate of inflation to the more energy-intensive way of life in rural areas. While in Vienna, for example, where public transport is well developed, there are statistically only 0.8 cars per household, in eastern Styria, in the Waldviertel and in southern Burgenland there are more than twice as many.
Rural regions are also more affected by rising household energy prices due to individual construction and poorer insulation. “Without transport and energy, rural and urban inflation would be practically the same,” says Klotz.
The fact that inflation rose to its highest level since 1984 in January is mainly due to the sharp rise in energy prices. These, in turn, affect domestic households all the more, the more energy is spent on living, heating and driving.
The less compact settlement structure in rural areas tends to be accompanied by higher heating costs and longer distances. According to Klotz, commuting is also tearing a particularly large hole in the wallets of rural residents because of the sharp rise in fuel prices.
Spending on transport high
In areas with a medium settlement density, such as the Vienna suburbs, smaller towns such as Villach or the Rhine and Inn valleys, the results tend to be similar, but the inflation rate of 5.1 percent in January is not quite as high as in the sparsely populated parts of the country. The reason is the same: Even in moderately populated areas, expenditure on transport and housing is higher than in cities, which is why the current price increases in energy carry more weight.
Source: Nachrichten
