Austria consists of nine regions or "federal states" (Wien, Salzburg, Burgenland, Kärnten, Vorarlberg, Tirol, Oberösterreich, Niederösterreich, and Steiermark). Their population ranges from 1.8 million (Vienna) down to 290.000 (Burgenland)
Austria has maintained a tradition of one "Militärmusikcorps" of 40-50 musicians per state. Over time, varying percentages of the staff were professional full time soldiers, the rest were recruits serving in band for about a year and a half.
That makes about 5 military musicians per 10000 citizens, which undoubtedly is a whole lot.
So in an attempt to save costs, the government has decided to cut down each and every one of these nine bands down to 20 musicians.
These are supposed to serve in local every-day-events, and combine forces to form full sized wind bands occasionally. Great job, guys !!We´ll have to see how this arrangement will turn out in reality. I believe it may have been a good idea to set up three bands of 60 that do a little bit of travelling instead...