The German Federal Statistical Office reported Tuesday that the number of British citizens who were naturalized as German citizens in the country rose to a record high of 2,865 in 2016.
An increase of 2,200 successful applications or 361 percent compared to the previous year, the striking figure highlighted another possible effect of Britain's decision to leave the European Union in the June 2016 referendum.
In the event of a so-called "Hard Brexit" scenario, in which Britain leaves the European Union as well as its single market, British citizens are likely to lose their right to live and work across the 27 member states of the European Union.
In total, 110,400 individuals were naturalized as German citizens in 2016, a year on year increase of 2.9 percent.
The largest national group of those who received a German passport were Turks with 16,290 naturalizations. However, that number marked a decrease of 16.9 percent compared to 2015.
The second largest national group, Poles, recorded an increase of 11.3 percent to reach 6632 naturalizations.
According to the statistics presented, on average naturalized citizens were 33 years of age and had resided in Germany for 17 years.
Women accounted for a higher share of naturalizations than men at 53.9 percent.
Nearly 60 percent of new German citizens had their origins in Europe, with 29 percent thereof arriving from within the EU.
