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Naturalisations

Long-term trends

In the 1980s, the number of naturalisations averaged 7 800 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. Although the number of naturalisations slightly increased in 2011 it is stiller lower than in 2009. 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. As is in the previous year, in 2011, the naturalisation rate amounted to 0.7%, the lowest level ever reached since 1961.

Current annual results

In 2011, Austrian citizenship was granted to a total of 6 754 people (including 64 persons who were resident abroad). That was an increase of 9.1% compared with 2010 (6 190 people) when the lowest number of naturalisations was recorded after 7 years of subsequent shrinking since 2003 (45 112 people).

Two aspects are essentially responsible for low naturalisation rates: 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 seven years. While 15 835 persons became Austrian citizens on these legal grounds in 2003 (35% of all naturalisations), the figure fell to 1 074 in 2011 (16%).

Most of the persons who underwent naturalisation in 2011 were between the ages of 30 and 44 (34%), followed by those who were under 15 years of age (29.8%). One fourth of all naturalised persons were youths and young adults aged 15-29 (26.5%), far less at age 45 and older (9.7%).

In 2011, 2 392 persons who were granted citizenship were born in Austria (35.4%), while 4 362 were foreign-born citizens (64.6%). Over a third of the naturalisations in 2011 concerned nationals of Turkey (1 181) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1 174) followed by Serbia (548) and Kosovo (542) at the same level accounting for 8% respectively.

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

    
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