Germany grants citizenship to record number of people in 2025; Syrians top list

* Particularly strong ⁠year-over-year ​growth was also seen for Bosnians (126%, or 8,800 people), the United States (100%, or 6,600 people), and Albanians (97%, or 6,100 ⁠people). * The number of people who naturalised through restitution laws that ⁠restore ⁠citizenship to individuals, and their descendants, who were stripped of it by Nazi Germany, rose ‌by 61% to ‌12,000.

Germany granted citizenship to ​a record 332,500 people ​last year, a ‌14% increase, ​with Syrians making up the largest group for the fifth year in ‌a row, according to data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday. * One in five people naturalised in 2025 was ‌Syrian. However, compared with 2024, the number of Syrians gaining German ‌citizenship dropped by 21%

* Many Syrians who arrived as refugees during 2015 and 2016 became eligible for naturalization during 2024 * The office ⁠attributes ​the increase ⁠to June 2024 reforms that reduced residency requirements for naturalization from eight years ⁠to five, as well as allowed individuals to hold dual citizenship

* ​After Syrians, the largest groups to naturalise were Turks (10%, ⁠or 34,100 people) and Russians (6%, or 19,700 people). * Particularly strong ⁠year-over-year ​growth was also seen for Bosnians (126%, or 8,800 people), the United States (100%, or 6,600 people), and Albanians (97%, or 6,100 ⁠people).

* The number of people who naturalised through restitution laws that ⁠restore ⁠citizenship to individuals, and their descendants, who were stripped of it by Nazi Germany, rose ‌by 61% to ‌12,000.