Prosecution and sentencing figures are based on the same recording methodology as police-recorded figures. However, as the "hate crime" coding can only be applied to the whole proceeding, as opposed to individual prosecuted/sentenced offences, they may include some non-hate crime offences. Prosecution figures exclude 1,437 cases prosecuted under the Prohibition Act (§§ 3a-3h VerbotsG) and 199 cases of so-called "honour crimes" (§§ 111, 113, 115, and 116 StGB). Sentencing figures exclude 113 cases sentenced under the Prohibition Act (§§ 3a-3h VerbotsG) and 21 cases of "honour crimes" (§§ 111, 113, 115, and 116 StGB). All the excluded cases fall outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
The number of police-recorded cases provided in the charts below refers to the number of bias motives and not the number of offences. This is why the numbers below do not match the total number of police-recorded cases in the table above. A total of 7,614 bias motives were originally recorded by the police. Of those, 4,143 bias motives associated with "right-wing extremism" crimes under the Prohibition Act, so-called "honour crimes" and incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence were excluded from ODIHR's report, as they fall outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
In 2024, a new subcategory was included in the electronic recording and data collection mechanism and the internal police decree, which provides a monitoring definition of hate crime and quality management standards: “Trans” for transgender victims who may have been targeted because of their gender identity.
Between October 2023 and October 2025, the MoI conducted a quantitative and qualitative study of police work with the Austrian Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) on police reported and unreported cases, as well as on the analysis of possible preventive measures against hate crime and hate speech, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). Within this framework, a 2024 survey was conducted on reported cases, particularly concerning women, people with disability, and, more broadly, tenants of urban social housing.
In order to strengthen networking and cooperation between the federal ministries and other initiatives, the Federal Government set up the national "No Hate Speech" committee. This committee was founded to implement the Council of Europe's "No Hate Speech" youth initiative and to foster the exchange of information and knowledge between representatives of the federal ministries and civil society organizations. The committee aims to raise awareness of online hate speech and address its causes and contexts to counteract the acceptance of hate speech and thus fight racism, sexism, and discrimination online.
On 11 September 2024, the Federal Ministry of Justice published the Court Assistance Regulation Ordinance (PbRegVO) in the Federal Law Gazette (Federal Law Gazette II No. 245/2024). This ordinance, which comes into force on 1 October 2025, tightens the qualification standards for court assistance, reorganizes the classification of victim groups according to their special protection needs (Section 66a (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure) and updates training courses for psychosocial court assistants. The training begins with a general five-day training course, followed by a specialized four-day training course, and ends with an additional two-day specialized training course. The additional training is specifically for the psychosocial court assistance of adult female and male victims of hate crimes. This module also includes criminal and media law measures to combat online hate speech.
This category includes hate crimes registered under the categories of bias against "ethnic/national origin" and "skin colour". Anti-Roma hate crime are also included in this category.
A further 2,536 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
A further 412 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
A further 305 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
A further 111 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
This category includes motives registered as "Other" within the "religion" category in the Austrian Ministry of Interior's data recording system. A further 62 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
This category only includes "anti-male" and "anti-female" bias motives. It does not include motives recorded under the category "gender identity."
A further 217 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
This category includes hate crimes based on bias against sexual orientation (292) and hate crimes based on bias against gender identity (5), although the two categories were reported on separately.
A further 359 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
A further 141 recorded bias motives were excluded from this category as the legal basis for their recording falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
This category includes 136 hate crimes committed with a bias based on social status and 102 hate crimes with a bias based on age. This category might include motives for which the legal basis falls outside the OSCE hate crime definition.
ODIHR recognizes Austria's long-term efforts to improve its hate crime recording and data collection mechanism and to make use of the collected data as well as its hate crime victim support system. ODIHR observes that Austria would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials, including prosecutors and judges, to address hate crimes.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States agreed to a common definition of hate crime and committed to collecting reliable data and statistics on such crimes. Participating States have also committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Austria in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance, including further resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for prosecution and the judiciary.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in Austria from the following civil society organizations:
- Antidiskriminierungsstelle Steiermark (Anti-Discrimination Office Styria)
- Documentation and Counselling Center Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Racism (Dokustelle Austria)
- International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF)
- European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses
- Jewish Communities of Vienna (IKG Wien)
- The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC)
- ZARA - Civil Courage and Anti-Racism Work
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.All incidents submitted by the above organizations have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that were broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories.
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of 154 incidents that took place in Austria in the following eight bias motivation categories: racist and xenophobic, anti-Christian, anti-LGBTI, anti-Muslim, gender-based, anti-Roma, anti-Semitic, and disability. A large number were reported in the racist and xenophobic category, while a significant number of anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic incidents were reported. A smaller number of gender-based incidents were also reported. ODIHR observes that a significant number of anti-Black incidents reported in Austria targeted people due to their skin colour, including threats, harassing behaviour and physical assaults. Harassing behaviour perpetrated against migrants and refugees by their neighbours was also noted. ODIHR also observed several incidents targeting minors due to their ethnicity in a school setting. In addition, a number of incidents of neo-Nazi/swastika graffiti and anti-Muslim or racist graffiti were reported. The majority of anti-Christian incidents in Austria were property attacks, with the exception of incidents targeting representatives of the Jehovah’s Witness community, which also involved physical assaults and threats. Several anti-Muslim incidents specifically targeting women wearing a hijab were reported. Finally, ODIHR noted a number of incidents in which law enforcement officers committed racist incidents while on duty. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting relating to hate incidents targeting other religions or beliefs in Austria, and very few incidents of anti-Roma or disability hate crimes. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. In addition, one reporting organization submitted 23 statistical incidents motivated by anti-Muslim bias, for which descriptions are not available in the tables below. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in Austria.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents in Austria to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl.
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from Austria click here and search by year and country.