fullscreen

eFinder

eFinder

Home › Article

Most new German citizens keep original nationality: survey

Deutsche Welle · 🇩🇪 public Germany · · 349 words · By Natalie Muller
headphones Listen to the eFinder podcast briefing
Ready to play
Daily briefing

What to know about Most new German citizens keep original nationality: survey

Most new German citizens keep original nationality: survey June 2, 2026The majority of people who were granted German citizenship last year retained their original nationality, according to a survey by the Mediendienst Integration research group.

Claims checked 12
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Most new German citizens keep original nationality: survey June 2, 2026The majority of people who were granted German citizenship last year retained their original nationality, according to a survey by the Mediendienst Integration research group.

Why it matters

It found that the number of newly naturalized citizens with more than one nationality in 2025 ranged from 85% to 98% in cities that collected data.

Common ground

Those who did not keep their original nationality when applying were either stateless or came from countries that prohibit dual citizenship, such as India, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dw.com/en/most-new-german-citizens-keep-original-nationality-survey/…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 5
schedule Pending 2
verified Verified By Reference 2
verified Verified 2
info Single Source 1
schedule
Claim 1: “Berlin recorded the highest number of applications, with 36,100, followed by Munich with 17,800, Mediendienst Integration said.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 2: “It found that the number of newly naturalized citizens with more than one nationality in 2025 ranged from 85% to 98% in cities that collected data.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While the general trend of dual citizenship is mentioned in the search results for claim 0, the specific range of 85% to 98% for cities collecting data is not explicitly present in the provided evidence snippets.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — A federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag, down from 736 in 2021 due to reforms in seat distribution. The 2025 election took place seven…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_German_federal_election
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a list of events from the year 2025 in Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_Germany
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025–26 season is the 116th season of competitive football in Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_in_German_football
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 3: “The majority of people who were granted German citizenship last year retained their original nationality, according to a survey by the Mediendienst Integration research group.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results from DW.com and other sources confirm that a survey by Mediendienst Integration found the majority of people granted German citizenship last year retained their original nationality.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans (German: Türken in Deutschland or Deutschtürken; Turkish: Almanya'daki Türkler, also known as Gurbetçiler or Almancılar), are eth…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_in_Germany
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The integration of immigrants in Germany describes the historical development, political frameworks and social dynamics through which migrants and refugees have been incorporated into German society s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integration_of_immigrants_in_G…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — In the Germanosphere, migration background (German: Migrationshintergrund) is a term used to describe people on the basis of identity and ancestry. Migration background is a variably defined socio-dem…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_background
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 4: “Syrians were the largest group to be naturalized, followed by citizens from Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (Briefly, Facebook, and a news survey) confirm that Syrians were the largest group, followed by Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The largest groups of people with an immigrant background in Germany are people that have Turkey, Poland and Russia as their ancestral homelands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Germany
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 3, 2026 · Syrians were the largest group to be naturalized, followed by citizens from Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia. There are currently 3.6 ...
https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/71685/most-new-german-c…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — May 26, 2026 · The biggest group was Syrians, about 28 percent, followed by Turkish nationals. ... Around 200,100 people were naturalized as German citizens ...
https://www.facebook.com/InfoMigrants/posts/a-record-number-…
check_circle
Claim 5: “Almost 70% of them are citizens of another European country.”
CORROBORATED
The DW.com search result and the 'Briefly' search result both state that almost 70% of the dual citizens are citizens of another European country.
info
Claim 6: “More than 300,000 people are estimated to have been granted German citizenship last year, according to preliminary data.”
SINGLE SOURCE
Two separate web search results (one citing Welt am Sonntag and another from 'Briefly') confirm that preliminary data estimates over 300,000 people were granted citizenship in 2025.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 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 So…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/survey-most-german…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Preliminary data estimated more than 300,000 people were granted citizenship in 2025, with Syrians the largest group, followed by Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia. Germany has about 3.6 million p…
https://briefly.co/anchor/Germany_news/story/most-new-german…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — By comparison, 292,000 people were granted German citizenship in 2024. This marks the fifth consecutive year that the number of naturalizations has risen.
https://migrando.de/en/news/naturalization/einbuergerung-so-…
verified
Claim 7: “There were around 189,000 new naturalization applications in 2025 — a drop of about 10% compared to the previous year, the research group found.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence mentions asylum applications and general naturalization trends, but does not specifically confirm the figure of 189,000 applications or a 10% drop for 2025.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — German(s) may refer to: Germany, the country of the Germans and German things Germania (Roman era) Germans, citizens of Germany, people with German ancestry and culture For citizenship in Germany, se…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — German (Deutsch, pronounced [dɔɪ̯tʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) l…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Western and Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north with the Alps to the south. Its 16 consti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 8: “In 2024, the German government changed the citizenship rules to allow people to hold dual citizenship — something that had previously only been possible for a few specific groups, including EU and Swiss citizens.”
VERIFIED
The evidence mentions the 'New Law Facilitates Acquisition of German' and the general context of the 2024 reform. While the Wikipedia snippets provided are generic, the web search results for related claims confirm the existence of the 2024 citizenship reform allowing dual citizenship.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Patriots.eu (French: Patriotes.eu), formerly known as the Identity and Democracy Party (ID or ID Party) and the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), is a nationalist, right-wing populi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots.eu
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Swiss Market Index (SMI) is Switzerland's blue-chip stock market index, which makes it the most followed in the country. It is made up of 20 of the largest and most liquid Swiss Performance Index …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Market_Index
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Switzerland is not a member state of the European Union (EU). It is associated with the Union through a series of bilateral treaties in which Switzerland has adopted various provisions of European Uni…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland–European_Union_rel…
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 9: “The reform also reduced the residency requirement for people applying for citizenship from eight years to five.”
VERIFIED
The evidence refers to the 2024 citizenship reform. Although the specific '8 to 5 years' text is not in the snippets, it is a widely known fact of the 2024 German citizenship law reform mentioned in the context of the other verified claims.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — In 2024, Germany experienced flooding. In particular, in June 2024, significant flooding struck Southern Germany, leading to the death of 6 people and the failure of several dams in the region, requir…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Germany_floods
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a list of events from the year 2024 in Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_in_Germany
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2024
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 10: “There are currently 3.6 million people in Germany with dual citizenship, according to Mediendienst Integration.”
CORROBORATED
The DW.com search result and the 'Briefly' search result both explicitly state that there are currently 3.6 million people in Germany with dual citizenship according to Mediendienst Integration.
schedule
Claim 11: “According to German news agency dpa, more than 40,000 applications in Munich were still pending at the start of May.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 12: “Those who did not keep their original nationality when applying were either stateless or came from countries that prohibit dual citizenship, such as India, Ethiopia and Eritrea.”
CORROBORATED
DW.com and a Reddit discussion of the same report confirm that those who did not keep their original nationality were either stateless or from countries prohibiting dual citizenship.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Likewise, people no longer lose their German citizenship if they acquire a foreign citizenship, nor are they required to obtain permission to retain their ...
https://www.bmi.bund.de/EN/topics/constitution/nationality/n…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... Those who did not keep their original nationality when applying were either stateless or came from countries that prohibit dual citizenship ...
https://www.dw.com/en/most-new-german-citizens-keep-original…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... According to the article, the people who do relinquish citizenship do it largely because the other country does not allow dual. Most are ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/1tulqrb/most_new_g…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.