Burgenland

Burgenland (Austrian German pronunciation: [ˈbʊrɡn̩land] ^ⓘ; Hungarian: Őrvidék; Croatian: Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: Burgnland; Slovene: Gradiščanska; Slovak: Hradsko) is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of 171 municipalities. It is 166 km (103 mi) long from north to south but much narrower from west to east (5 km or 3 mi wide at Sieggraben). The population of Burgenland as of 1 January 2025 is 301,790. Burgenland's capital is Eisenstadt.

The area once belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary, which was obliged under the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 to cede what was then German West Hungary (Deutsch-Westungarn) to the newly formed Republic of Austria. In 1921, the annexation of Burgenland was completed; the newly acquired territory was given the legally binding name Burgenland by the Federal Constitutional Act of 25 January 1921.

Burgenland borders the city of Bratislava to the north, the Hungarian counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron and Vas to the east, the two municipalities of Kuzma and Rogašovci (Slovenia) for a few kilometers to the south, and the Austrian federal states of Styria and Lower Austria to the west.

The proportion of permanent settlement area within the state territory amounts to 62.76%, the second-highest value among Austria’s nine territorial federal states after Vienna.

Burgenland is characterized by Lake Neusiedl in the north and the foothills of the Alps in the hilly south. It is elongated in shape and narrows at Sieggraben in the Ödenburg Mountains to a width of 4 km. The region is part of the Centrope Project.