A new chart reveals striking disparities in the use of social benefits in Vienna. Syria tops the list at 73.7 percent, followed by Somalia (71.6 percent) and Afghanistan (54.2 percent). Across the total population, the figure stands at 9.0 percent, while among Austrians it is just 4.1 percent.

According to the 2024 Integration Report (BKA), which covers data for 2023, the proportion of welfare recipients differs sharply by nationality. Alongside Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan, Iraq (46.1 percent) and Russia (32.9 percent) also far exceed the average, while Iran (16.4 percent), Turkey (8.1 percent) and the former Yugoslavia (5.4 percent) fall below it.

In Vienna, the discrepencies by nationality are particularly pronounced. The chart for 2023 shows Syria (73.7 percent) and Somalia (71.6 percent) leading the list. They are followed by Afghanistan with 54.2 percent, Iraq with 46.1 percent, and Russia with 32.9 percent.

Below the overall population average of 9.0 percent, Iran (16.4 percent) still exceeds it, Turkey (8.1 percent) falls just short, and the former Yugoslavia lags significantly behind with 5.4 percent. Austrians, at 4.1 percent, show the lowest proportion on the chart. The data are taken from the BKA’s 2024 Integration Report. According to the same chart, Ukrainian citizens are not included.

Stats also show that Syrians have no intention of returning to their homeland, even though the political situation no longer justifies maintaining their refugee status.

Austria recently made a precedent-setting decision when it deported a 19-year-old Syrian youth from the country.

The Strasbourg-based Human Rights Court also declared that the 19-year-old man “does not face a real and direct risk of suffering irreparable harm” if he returns to Syria, following the collapse of the Assad regime last December.

According to court documents, the 19-year-old—whose name has not been disclosed—fled to Austria in October 2022, hoping to avoid the war that allegedly forced young men from government-controlled areas in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah governorate to join the Assad regime’s forces.

He eventually ended up in prison for shoplifting and robbery. After serving his sentence, he was placed in an immigration detention centre, where he awaited deportation.

Austria has deported only two people to Syria since the fall of the Assad regime, when extremist groups overthrew the ruler and seized power. The first deportation, carried out in July, marked the first time an EU member state had sent anyone back to Syria since the war began in 2011.