Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area, it is the second largest of the nine Austrian states, covering 16,388 km². It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. The population (as of 2006) was 1,203,986. The capital city is Graz.

The term "Upper Styria" (German: Obersteiermark) used by an Austrian refers to the northern and northwestern parts of the federal state (districts Liezen, Murau, Judenburg, Knittelfeld, Leoben, Bruck an der Mur, and Mürzzuschlag). The term "West Styria" (Weststeiermark) is used for the districts to the west of Graz (Voitsberg, Deutschlandsberg, western part of the district Leibnitz); the districts east of Graz (Weiz, Hartberg, Feldbach, Fürstenfeld, and Radkersburg) are referred to as "East Styria" (Oststeiermark). The western and eastern parts of the district Graz-Umgebung may or may not be considered parts of West and East Styria, respectively. The southern parts of the Duchy of Styria, which have formed part of Slovenia since 1918, were (and sometimes colloquially still are) referred to as "Lower Styria" (Untersteiermark; Slovene: Spodnja Štajerska).