The number of people granted German citizenship reached the highest level last year since records began in 2000.
The number of naturalizations rose by 19% compared to the previous year, having already risen by 28% in 2022, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday.
In absolute figures, around 200,100 people were naturalized in 2023.
People from 157 different nationalities were granted German citizenship in 2023, the most common being Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Romania and Afghanistan. Together, these countries accounted for over half of all naturalizations.
Naturalized citizens were 29.3 years old on average and therefore significantly younger than the population as a whole. At 45%, the proportion of women was lower than in the population as a whole.
Former Syrian nationals made up the largest group of naturalized citizens, accounting for more than a third of all naturalizations. Their number increased by a further 56% compared to the previous year. In 2022, this figure had already more than doubled compared to the previous year and even increased sevenfold in 2021.
"The high number of naturalizations of Syrians is therefore related to the high immigration of Syrian asylum seekers in the years 2014 to 2016, who now increasingly meet the requirements for naturalization," the office reported.
The number of naturalizations of Ukrainians rose by 6% to 5,900 in 2023, after almost tripling from 1,900 to 5,600 from 2021 to 2022 in the wake Russia's full-scale invasion of their country. Naturalizations of Ukrainian citizens accounted for 3% of all naturalizations in 2023.