Award für "ÖZS-Paper of the Year"

A prize for the “ÖZS-Paper of the Year” was awarded at this year's Congress of the Austrian Society for Sociology which took place from 30.6.-2.7.2025 in Graz under the title "The Climate of Society". Eva-Maria Schmidt from the ÖIF received this award together with Fabienne Décieux and Ulrike Zartler for the text "Selbstsorge als Selbstzweck? Meaning and forms of self-care in discourses on good motherhood".

Publication (in German)

UN-Convention on the Rights of the Child – Implementation in Austria

Forschungsbericht 58

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has a high priority in Austria. The individual provisions, including explanations, can be viewed at https://www.kinderrechte.gv.at. Individual regulations have also been incorporated into the Austrian Federal Constitution. This research report traces the development of the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Austria by presenting relevant statistical time series for each article. 

Forschungsbericht 58 (in German)

Family Data for Vorarlberg 2025

Familiendaten Vorarlberg 2025

‘Family data for Vorarlberg’ is an annually updated compilation of figures from the areas of population, citizenship, family forms, employment, risk of poverty and basic benefit provision/social assistance. The focus lies on Vorarlberg, whereby comparative data with Austria, other federal states and neighbouring European countries are included. The tables are accompanied by reading examples, short explanatory texts and a summary of key data.

Publication (German)  

Caritas Social Counselling

Caritas Sozialberatungsstatistik 2024

Caritas social counselling centers support people in need, inform them about social benefits, provide bridging assistance and plan steps to sustainably improve their living situation. The data collected during the counseling provided an insight into the realities of life for people in poverty and gave an indication of structural social problems.

Publication: www.caritas.at/sozialberatungsstatistik (displayed as Caritas Social Counselling Statistics - in German)

Towards a Comprehensive Terminology on Paid Parenting Leave

Towards a comprehensive terminology on paid parenting leave

The COST Action ‘Parental Leave Policies & Social Sustainability’ focuses on enhancing and sharing knowledge about the role of paid parental leave (PPL) policies in fostering sustainable societies. Terminology design for the PPL policies reflects values and expectations that pursue different goals in societies. As societies change, the terminology also evolves. This report provides a detailed exploration of recent developments in terminology.  

Publication

International Day of the Family 2025

International Day of families 2025

**May 15th has been declared ‘International Day of the Family’ by the United Nations. This is an annual event that draws attention to the importance of the family for society and the state.

On this occasion, Eva-Maria Schmidt, sociologist and ethnologist at the ÖIF, points out that the family is a consistently important part of our society: "The family continues to have a high subjective significance as a stable "we". This also shows how important solidarity, responsibility and caring for one another are for our society."

International Day of the Family 2025 (German)

Fokus Jugend 2025

The publication "Fokus Jugend" offers anyone interested in youth policy and youth work clearly presented figures. They illustrate the situation of young people aged 0 to 30 in Austria and highlight trends. This booklet summarizes the most important youth-relevant key data from the areas of population statistics, migration, education and training, media/internet use, the world of labour, as well as health and living conditions.

Fokus Jugend 2025 (PDF)

Parental use of home office

Parental use of home office

This study focuses on the parental use of home office and whether and to what extent it supports the compatibility of family and employment and how the division of labour between parents as well as the quality of their partnership differs with and without home office. Various characteristics and life circumstances of home office users have been included in the analysis.

Working Paper 104 (PDF)