reliable estimates on the number of filipinos in germany are difficult to obtain. the german embassy to the philippines estimated that 35,000 philippine citizens worked in germany as of 2008, and that another 30,000 had naturalised as german citizens. roughly 1,300 filipinos acquire german citizenship each year. official figures of the federal statistical office of germany showed 23,171 filipinos residing in the country as of 2003; that number did not include filipinos naturalised as german citizens, nor those who resided in the country illegally. a 2007 study by scholars of the philippine migration research network suggested that the number of illegal residents might be as high as 40,000. however, the philippine consulate-general claims that the number of filipinos illegally residing in germany is very small. as a result of the early female-dominated migration of nurses and international marriage agencies in west germany, the filipino community is heavily gender-imbalanced, with nearly 3.5 women for every man, according to the federal statistical office of germany. only in hamburg is this ratio reversed.