Our work and mission

Caritas’ core mission is to recognize need and take action—and to advocate for those who have no voice. This means respecting and protecting human life from beginning to end and helping people in need, regardless of their background, religion, or gender.

There are more than 1,600 locations throughout Austria where Caritas helps people in need—in the areas of nursing care, services for people with disabilities, hospice care, social counseling centers, and support for families in crisis or older adults who cannot afford heating. Caritas consists of its full-time staff, but above all of the approximately 46,000 volunteers who work courageously and professionally every day.

Because need takes on a different form in every country, Caritas is integrated into the international Caritas network for its overseas and disaster relief efforts. More than 160 Caritas organizations worldwide are dedicated to serving humanity.

Total number of employees:

• 17,879 Caritas employees
• Approximately 43,000 volunteers in parishes and Caritas institutions

Help for People in need:

• 72 homeless shelters provide 2,642 beds
• 69 Caritas social counseling centers offer advice and help to people in need
• 52,000 people turned to Caritas social counseling in 2024. Together with the household members they care for, 106,000 people were supported.
• 10 mother-and-child homes with accommodation for 327 mothers with 441 children

Care and Nursing:

• 2.6 million hours of mobile care and nursing
• 6,408 people live in 53 retirement and nursing homes
• 5,779 employees working in the field of care and nursing
• We train 3,358 prospective nursing and care staff in 42 schools for social care professions

People with disabilities:

• Over 10,000 people with disabilities receive support in our facilities or through mobile services
• 1,264 people are cared for by mobile service employees
• 2,759 places are available in day care facilities

Children, Youth & Volunteer Work

• 127,500 children, teenagers, and young adults have taken part in youngCaritas campaigns and events.
• 832,000 hours of commitment: that's how much time our volunteers have given to support people in our facilities and projects.
• 2,502 young people are involved in actionPool, the youngCaritas volunteer pool.
• 72 learning cafés for 2,446 children and young people
• 1,040 volunteers are involved in the learning cafés
• Over 44,000 people support Caritas via the digital involvement platform fürreinand'

Caritas Foreign Aid:

• Caritas Austria is supporting 451 foreign aid projects worldwide in 2024.
• The total volume of this aid amounts to €58.3 million.
• The focus is on: disaster relief, children in need, long-term livelihood security, refugees, rehabilitation support (reconstruction)

Donations to Caritas

• 100.3 million euros were donated to Caritas in 2024
• Of this amount, 1.07 million euros came from "Licht ins Dunkel" and 5 million euros from “Nachbar in Not”
• Ongoing donations (sponsorships, standing orders, collections) account for 52.47 million euros of this total. 

(Status according to Annual Report 2024)

More information on the work of Caritas in Austria, including facts and figures, can be found in our current Digital Annual Report:

Digital Annual Report 2024

Short version for Download: 

Annual Report 2024 (pdf)