Vienna is a city.
Vienna ( [ viˈɛnə ] Wien , [ viːn ] ) is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria . Vienna is Austria 's primary city , with a population of about 1.8 million ( 2.6 million within the metropolitan area , nearly one third of Austria 's population ) , and its cultural , economic , and political centre . Until the beginning of the 20th century , it was the largest German-speaking city in the world , and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I , the city had 2 million inhabitants . The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic , Slovakia , and Hungary . For eight consecutive years ( 2009 -- 2016 ) , the human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Vienna first in its annual `` Quality of Living '' survey of hundreds of cities around the world , a title the city still held in 2016 .