The International Well-being Index (IWI) measures both personal and national well-being. It comprises two subscales: the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) and the National Well-being Index (NWI). The aim of this paper is to test the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of the translated scale in Austria. Convergent validity is assessed using the Scales of Psychological Well-Being, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. In addition, a Visual-Analog Scales capturing "satisfaction with life as a whole" was applied. The participants were 581 students of the Medical University Innsbruck (female: 47.7%; age: 23.2 plus or minus 3.7). Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the IWI was for both scales greater than 0.70 (PWI: 0.85; NWI: 0.83). The exploratory factor analysis of the IWI identified a 2-factor-structure identical with the two scales of the IWI explaining 54.2% of the variance. The convergent validity hypotheses were confirmed, construct validity was partly confirmed for the PWI being a deconstruction of a first factor called "satisfaction with life" (38.1% explained variance). Happy participants scored higher on the PWI (84.3 plus or minus] 7.9 vs. 68.7 plus or minus 13.7; p less than 0.001) and NWI (64.3 plus or minus 15.8 vs. 57.9 plus or minus 15.1; p less than 0.001) scores than unhappy participants. It is concluded that the Austrian version of the IWI is a reliable and valid instrument to assess personal and national well-being. Further studies including a representative sample should be carried out on a recurring basis to use the IWI as an indicator for social science research in Austria.