Those who emigrate from Germany are still most often drawn to Switzerland of all European countries. Germans have also recently acquired Swiss citizenship most frequently.
Switzerland is once again the most popular country for German emigrants in Europe. At the beginning of 2022, almost 311,300 Germans lived in the neighboring country. This was announced by the Federal Statistical Office. According to the information, the number has been increasing for years.
Austria is the second most popular emigration destination for Germans. At the beginning of last year, a good 216,700 German citizens lived there. “What both countries have in common is that the change of residence for Germans is made easier by the geographical proximity and the lack of language barriers,” says the statistics office.
Germans are the third most drawn to Spain. A good 142,600 people with German citizenship were living there at the beginning of 2022.
| The ten most popular emigrant destinations | |
|---|---|
| Switzerland | 311,299 |
| Austria | 216,731 |
| Spain | 142,632 |
| France | 87,233 |
| Netherlands | 82,943 |
| Belgium | 40,167 |
| Italy | 32,984 |
| Sweden (2021) | 28,957 |
| Denmark | 28,179 |
| Norway | 26,221 |
| Source: Eurostat, FSO Switzerland , ranking excluding the United Kingdom |
7,940 Germans acquired Swiss citizenship
According to the Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland is also the country in Europe where Germans most recently acquired citizenship. There was even a new high in 2021. 7,940 Germans became Swiss citizens – 14 percent more than a year earlier.
Sweden was in second place: almost 1,350 Germans acquired Swedish citizenship there in 2021 – five percent fewer than in the previous year.
The statistics office points out that Germans who also have the citizenship of the target country are not counted as Germans for these surveys. For the United Kingdom, data was only available up to 2019, which was therefore not included in the comparison.
Source : Tages Schau