Fifty years ago the number of foreigners living in Germany was less than 700,000. Today it is 6.7 million. This is 8.2 percent of the total population of 82 million.
Of these 6.7 million foreign residents 1.7 million (one quarter) are Turkish citizens. (see table 1)
The number of German Turks, however, is much higher: besides Turkish citizens it includes naturalised Turks and children of Turkish citizens: this number is today estimated at some 2.7 million (see table 2).
In 1980 the number of Turkish citizens who received German citizenship was only 339. In 1990 it rose to 2,000;by 1999 it had reached more than 100,000. Today, the total number of Turkish-turned-German citizens is 755,000. (see table 3)
Following the amendment of the German citizenship law in 2000 it is now easier to become a citizen. Children of foreign parents can now obtain German citizenship at birth. This explains the drop in the number of Turkish citizens after 2001.
via Picture stories – ESI.