Austria vs Germany

Why people mix them up

Austria and Germany are neighbours that share a language, a long border and a great deal of history, so many people wonder whether Austria is simply a part of Germany. It is not: Austria is a separate country with its own capital, flag and government. The two also sit side by side in the middle of Europe, both use the euro, and searches like "is Austria bigger than Germany" are common because Austria's elongated shape is easy to misjudge.

How to tell them apart

• Germany is roughly four times the size of Austria, about 357,000 km² against 84,000 km², and has far more people.
• Germany has coastlines on the North Sea and the Baltic; Austria is landlocked.
• Germany's flag is black, red and gold horizontal stripes; Austria's is red-white-red horizontal stripes.
• Austria is dominated by the Alps; Germany only reaches the Alps along its southern edge in Bavaria and is mostly lowland and hills.
• The capitals are Berlin (Germany) and Vienna (Austria). Vienna lies on the Danube in the far east of Austria, close to Slovakia.
• Both speak German, but Austrian German has its own vocabulary, such as "Jänner" for January.

Memory hook

Austria's flag is red-white-red like a slice of ham on bread; Germany's is the black, red and gold of a three-layer cake. The bigger country gets the bigger cake.

On the map

Germany is the large country in the centre of Europe between France and Poland, with the sea along its north. Austria hangs off Germany's southeast border like a long tail, stretching east from Switzerland and Liechtenstein towards Hungary and Slovakia. If you are tapping a country with no coast that sits on top of Italy and Slovenia, it is Austria.