The part played by the Czech Lands in the economy of Austria and the monarchy was great. According to recent estimates, the share of the Czech Lands in the national income of Cisleithania in the period 1911 to 1913 averaged almost 43 per cent, while the German–Austrian part of Cisleithania (Lower and Upper Austria) averaged approximately 34 per cent. There is no doubt, however, that the share of the Czech Lands in the industrial sector of the economy was far greater than this percentage would indicate. The share of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in industrial production in most branches was very large throughout the nineteenth century, and the percentage share continually increased.

In the period from 1880 to 1913 the population of the Czech Lands made up approximately 36 per cent of the population of all Cisleithania, with the percentage declining by a very small amount toward the end of the period. The population of the Czech Lands increased from 7.7 million in 1870 to 10.3 million in 1913. On average, the rate of population growth in the Czech Lands was slightly less than that in Cisleithania. For the period 1880 to 1913 the average (compounded) annual rate of growth was 0.84 for Cisleithania and 0.68 for the Czech Lands. The low rate of increase in the 1880s coincides with the period of slow recovery from the great depression of 1873 and a significant rise in the death rate which continued until the late eighties. From the eighties on, however, both the death rate and birth rate began a secular decline in the Czech Lands, with the birth rate decreasing somewhat more slowly than the death rate.