During 2024, Germany granted its citizenship to a record number of people — more than 290 thousand. About this reported Federal Statistical Office of Germany.
According to statistics, in 2024, more than 290,000 people received German citizenship. people, while in 2023 this figure was about 210,000. Among them, approximately 83,000 were Syrians, and the number of Russians to whom passports were issued increased more than six times — to almost 13,000.
Olaf Scholz’s government is known to have simplified the citizenship law to attract more skilled workers and address chronic labor shortages. Now, in order to apply for citizenship, it is enough to live in Germany for 5 years instead of 8. This period can be reduced to 3 years in case of successful integration of the foreigner.
However, the current coalition of Chancellor Friedrich Mertz plans to cancel the accelerated procedure for obtaining a German passport. This is due to voters’ concerns about illegal migration and growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which promises to limit the influx of foreigners into the country.
In April last year, it was reported that Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees accepts only 10% of asylum applications from Russians.
In the first year of the full-scale war against Ukraine, Russia experienced two waves of emigration: in the spring after the start of the invasion, and in the fall after the mobilization was announced. According to the estimate of the Re\:Russia project, more than 820,000 people have left Russia since February 2022. people, which became the largest mass outflow of the population in the last 100 years.
