One in five people naturalised in 2025 was Syrian. [Getty]
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—escaping a horrific civil war amid an uprising against a totalitarian regime—became eligible for naturalisation in 2024.
The office attributes the increase to June 2024 reforms that reduced residency requirements for naturalisation from eight years to five and 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 under restitution laws that restore citizenship to individuals and their descendants stripped of it by Nazi Germany rose by 61% to 12,000.
