Brexit Means More Germans Now Have a British Accent

(Bloomberg) -- A record number of Britons took German nationality last year, continuing a trend that emerged after the 2016 Brexit vote and helping to lift the total number of new citizens to the highest since 2003.

Some 14,600 Britons were granted a German passport in 2019, up from 6,640 the previous year, according to data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office. In 2015, the year before the U.K. voted narrowly in favor of leaving the European Union, 622 Britons took German nationality.

Most of the new Germans opted to keep their British passports. Half had been living in Germany for at least 26 years and half were older than 54, the office said, adding that some were in their nineties.

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