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Industrialization began in Austria in the second half of the 19^th century, during the final decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the Austrian sector of the empire, industrialization doubled between 1891 and 1913, and annual economic growth in the years before the First World War was actually higher than in most of the other major European powers. However, it was still lagging far behind Europe's other states as their industrialization process had begun at a much earlier date.

Interwar period

Following the dissolution of the empire after the Second World War, Austria's borders shrunk significantly, and its industrialization levels fluctuated throughout the interwar period. In comparison to the empire, industrial output was much lower as Austria had lost much of its natural resources to new states in its former territories, such as Czechoslovakia or Poland. Using figures for 1937 as a benchmark, output had already reached a a similar level in 1929, before the Great Depression saw it fall below 60 percent, hypothetically delaying the process by seven years. Austria was then formally annexed by Germany in 1938, and figures are unavailable for the next nine years.

Postwar recovery

Rapid recovery saw Austria's industrial output return to its pre-war level by 1949. Thereafter, using 1963 as a benchmark, figures show that the decades after the war saw the fastest industrial growth, with output doubling between 1952 and 1963, and it had been on course to double again over the next 12-15 years were it not for the 1973-75 Recession.