For the fifth year. Syrians top list of most naturalized in North Rhine
For the fifth year in a row, Syrians top the list of the most obtained German citizenship in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with nearly a quarter of cases, despite a sharp decline in the number of naturalized people and new immigrants by about half in 2025.
Official data issued by German statistical offices revealed that despite this continuous numerical superiority in Emiratization transactions, there has been a remarkable structural shift, represented by a sharp and tangible decline in both annual naturalization rates and the number of new arrivals to the country.
Leading naturalization in North Rhine
According to the Statistical Office of North Rhine-Westphalia, 18,567 Syrian nationals met the requirements and obtained German citizenship in the state, which constitutes 24.4% (almost a quarter) of the total naturalization cases granted by the local authorities to the various expatriate nationalities.
However, a comparative reading of the figures showed a clear decline in the pace of citizenship grants, as the number of naturalized Syrians during 2025 decreased by 23.7% compared to the previous year, as the state had recorded 24,349 Syrians during 2024.
Sharp decline in inbound migration indicators
The decline was not limited to paperwork for naturalization, but also extended to reflect a significant decline in the movement of Syrian refugees and migration towards Germany, where the number of new Syrian immigrants decreased by a record 46.5% during 2025.
According to preliminary migration statistics from the Federal Statistical Office, German authorities and reception centres registered only about 40,000 Syrian migrants between January and September 2025, compared to more than 74,600 migrants who were officially registered during the same time period in 2024, meaning that inbound migration has almost halved.
Paradoxes
German sources attribute the fact that Syrians have remained at the top of the naturalization lists for several years in a row to the arrival of hundreds of thousands of them at the peak of the flows in 2015 and 2016.
With the requirement of extended legal residency (which has been reduced in recent legal amendments), the largest segment of the population has successfully completed the integration pathways, the labour market and the language, making them the largest bloc eligible for a German passport.
European analysts attribute the sharp decline in the number of new Syrian migrants by 46.5% in 2025 to the adoption by Berlin and the European Union of a package of strict security policies, including tightening land border controls, activating external screening centers, and accelerating the processing of asylum claims, which have reduced the ability of smuggling networks to use traditional routes to Central Europe.