In Germany’s snap election on February 23, there will be more new citizens and first-time voters than ever before in the history of the federal republic.

More new voters in Germany than ever before

According to a FOCUS magazine poll of administrative bodies in Germany’s 16 federal states, the country’s snap federal election will see more first-time voters than any other election in the history of the federal republic.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous federal state, around 121.260 more residents have German citizenship than the last time voters went to the polls in 2021. On February 23 in Baden-Württemberg, 61.020 more citizens will be able to vote than in 2021.

Only German citizens over 18 are eligible to vote in federal elections. Neither temporary nor permanent residents can vote, regardless of how long they have lived in the federal republic, and residents with another EU citizenship can only vote in local or EU elections.

There are two main reasons why thousands more new Germans can have their say this time around. 2023 marked eight years since many Syrian citizens arrived in Germany as refugees in 2015, and until summer 2024 eight years of residence in Germany was a requirement for citizenship. 

The eight-year residence period requirement was reduced to five years in June 2024, when the traffic-light coalition government passed its new citizenship law. The law also permits dual citizenship, meaning long-term residents no longer have to forfeit their original citizenship to be able to vote in their adopted home.

The new law means the number of new German citizens - and therefore newly eligible voters - is only likely to increase. In most states, 2024 figures for the number of newly naturalised citizens are yet to be released.

Berlin will naturalise 13.000 new citizens by March 2025

After a backlog of over 27.000 citizenship applications and the wait for a new centralised office stalled citizenship processing in Berlin for almost a year in 2023, administrative employees are picking up the pace.

Since it opened in January 2024, Berlin’s new, centralised naturalisation office (Einbürgerungsbehörde) has been naturalising an average of 100 new German citizens per day, according to a recent report from rbb.

Since the last federal election, Berlin is the federal state that has seen the biggest annual increase in newly naturalised citizens. In 2021, the city-state naturalised 7.820 people, 8.875 in 2022 and in 2024 alone, a whopping 16.470 people. Of the 16.470 citizens naturalised in Berlin in 2024, 12.956 people were naturalised between June and October alone, after the citizenship law passed.

Between November 2024 and March 2025, the office expects to have naturalised 13.000 new citizens, and on election day on February 23, the capital should have 55.206 more eligible voters than in 2021.

Speaking to rbb, Weibke Gramm of the centralised naturalisation office said employees will aim even higher in 2025. 40 additional employees will start work at the office. “Next year we are aiming to process 40.000 applications,” Gramm explained.

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