Survey: Most new German citizens keep original nationality

The vast majority of people who became German citizens last year retained their original nationality under Germany's new dual citizenship rules, according to a survey by the Mediendienst Integration research group.

The share of newly naturalized citizens holding more than one nationality ranged from 85% to 98% in cities that collected the data, the survey found.

Most of those who did not obtain dual citizenship were either stateless before naturalization or came from countries that generally prohibit dual citizenship, including India, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Germany's previous coalition government of the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats reformed citizenship laws in 2024, allowing most applicants to keep their existing nationality when becoming German citizens.

The reform also reduced the minimum residency requirement for naturalization to five years from eight. A fast-track route allowing particularly well-integrated foreigners to apply after three years was later abolished by the current conservative-led government.

The number of new naturalization applications fell by about 10% in 2025 to around 189,000, according to Mediendienst Integration.

Berlin recorded the highest number of applications, at about 36,100, followed by Munich with around 17,800. Munich also faced a significant backlog, with more than 40,200 applications awaiting a decision at the beginning of May.

The total number of people granted German citizenship in 2025 is expected to have exceeded 300,000, according to preliminary data from several federal states and research cited by newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Syrians were the largest group to obtain German citizenship last year, followed by citizens of Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia.