Overview
- The Federal Statistical Office reported on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 that net migration fell to about 235,000 in 2025, a drop of roughly 45 percent compared with 2024.
- Total cross‑border moves in 2025 were roughly 1.48 million arrivals and 1.25 million departures, with the decline driven largely by much lower net arrivals from Syria (−67%), Afghanistan (−41%), Turkey (−41%) and Ukraine (−21%).
- Naturalizations reached a record about 332,500 in 2025, a rise linked by statisticians to the June 2024 StARModG reform that generally permits dual citizenship and shortened residency rules, and officials recorded about 467,400 citizenship applications with 371,100 completed procedures and roughly 90% ending in naturalization.
- At the same time a historic 288,579 German citizens emigrated in 2025, producing a net loss of about 97,000 Germans and concentrating destinations in Switzerland, Austria and Spain.
- The surge in demand has left many local offices with large backlogs, sharpened political debate over citizenship rules, and been shaped by the October 2025 repeal of the three‑year fast‑track to naturalization.