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Naturalisations

Long-term trends

In the 1980s, the number of naturalisations averaged 7 700 people a year. The naturalisation figures rose sharply from the mid-1990s as a result of the marked increase in the number of non-Austrian nationals. In 1997 for instance, just under 16 000 foreign nationals living in Austria were naturalised; in 1999, around 25 000; and in 2003, a total of almost 45 000. The number of naturalisations has been declining since 2004 to 6 135 in 2010. This has been the lowest figure since the beginning of the nineteen seventies. As a proportion of the foreign population (naturalisation rate), the number of naturalisations has doubled in recent years. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were 2.4 naturalisations for every 100 foreign nationals on a statistical average; since 2001 the rates have been over 4%, amounted to 6% in 2003 but dropped again afterwards. In 2010, the naturalisation rate amounted to 0.7%, which has been the lowest level ever reached since 1961.

Current quarter

Provisional quarterly results can be found in our current press release.

Current annual results

In 2010, the number of naturalisations declined by more than one-fifth over the previous year and by as much as more than four-fifths over 2003. Austrian citizenship was granted to a total of 6 190 people (including 55 persons who were resident abroad) in 2010 (2009: 7 990; -22.5%). Close to two-fifths of those naturalised (2 342 or 37.8%) were born in Austria.

Two aspects are essentially responsible for the seventh consecutive decline in naturalisation rates since the "record year" in 2003 (45 112 naturalisations): firstly, the amendments to the Citizenship Act which came into force on 23 March 2006 and on 1 January 2010 introduced stricter requirements for the acquisition of Austrian citizenship. Secondly, immigration numbers have dropped since 1993 and as a consequence of this development the number of persons eligible for naturalisation (for example those with at least ten years of uninterrupted main residence in Austria - § 10 para. 1 Citizenship Act) also decreased over the past six years. While 15 835 persons became Austrian citizens on these legal grounds in 2003 (35% of all naturalisations), the figure fell to 1 093 in 2010 (18%).

Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.

  • Table(s)
  • Stat. Databases
  • Press releases
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  • General information service
Results (overview): naturalised personsHTMLPDFXLSX


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