Fewer Austrian citizens this year

Naturalisations down 26.5 per cent.

Vienna. The number of naturalisations in Austria fell in the first three quarters of this year, it was announced. Statistik Austria reported 5,848 people became Austrian citizens between January and September 2009 - 26.5 per cent less than in the first three quarters of 2008. The state agency said naturalisation numbers were up to five times higher between 2002 and 2005. Experts said the decrease was partly down to a new stricter naturalisation law introduced in 2006. Statistik Austria said all nine Austrian provinces registered less naturalisations in the first nine months of this year than between January and September last year. Numbers shrunk most drastically in Vorarlberg which recorded a fall of 38 per cent, followed by Styria (37.7 per cent). Salzburg (minus five per cent) and Burgenland (minus three per cent) saw the least significant falls in naturalisations. Almost four in ten people (38.5 per cent) who gained Austrian citizenship between Janua- ry and September of this year were born in the country, it has been reported. Statistik Austria added that - with 1,265 - former Serbian citizens formed the biggest group of the 5,848 people who became Austrians, followed by people from Bosnia-Herzegovina (1,061) and Turks (950).

Printausgabe vom 17.11.2009