Image: Volker Weihbold
In the past year Linz has grown by almost 2900 inhabitants. Exactly 18,645 people moved to Germany and 15,784 moved away. 12,633 of the newcomers came from abroad. The most represented nationalities were Ukraine, Romania, Syria, Croatia and Germany.
“Invariably Well-Integrated Citizens”
During the same period, 425 people from Linz became Austrian citizens, 228 men and 197 women. Compared to the previous year, this is a decrease of 13 percent. “Almost without exception, the people of Linz who are naturalized every year are well-integrated fellow citizens who have established a livelihood here. Almost 40 percent were born in Austria and have a good education,” says Mayor Klaus Luger (SP).
Long-term stagnation since 2006
Looking at the long-term development, a true “naturalization boom” can be observed in the years 1999 to 2005 as a result of the Yugoslav war in the early 1990s. The tightened citizenship law of 2006 put an end to the boom and since then the number of naturalizations has stagnated.
Asians were naturalized most often
In recent years, more and more people from Asia have been naturalized, 37 percent in the previous year, followed by 16 percent from the former Yugoslavia, 15 percent from Africa and 6.4 percent from Turkey. The most common previous nationalities were Syria (59 people), the Russian Federation (45 people), Afghanistan (43 people), Kosovo (31 people) and Turkey (27 people).
Source: Nachrichten
