McAllister was born in West Berlin on 12 January 1971 to a Scottish father and a German mother.
His father, James Buchanan McAllister, who was originally from Glasgow (where the family still has relatives), was a British civil servant.
 From 1969, James McAllister worked in West Berlin, while attached to the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals.

David McAllister's mother, Mechthild McAllister, is a music teacher.

He was raised bilingually and attended a British primary school in Berlin.

In a 2010 interview he linked his family's name to Clan MacAlister.

After his parents moved to the small town of Bad Bederkesa in Lower Saxony in 1982, he went to the Lower Saxon Internatsgymnasium (boarding school) in Bederkesa, where he took his Abitur in 1989.
From 1989 till 1991, McAllister served his compulsory military service in the Bundeswehr, in Panzerbataillon 74 in Cuxhaven.
From 1991–96 he studied law with a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation at the Leibniz University Hannover.
In 1994, McAllister became local chairman of the CDU youth organisation, Junge Union, in the Cuxhaven district.

McAllister holds both German and British citizenship and speaks both German and English as native languages, although he has stated that he's "more or less completely German.
I've lived in Germany all my life.
I did all my school in Germany and my military service in Germany."
His upbringing in West Berlin, however, he describes as "very British" with "British network, British schools".
Holding dual citizenship, he could have relinquished his German citizenship to avoid compulsory military service in Germany (the UK does not have compulsory military service), but opted to serve instead.

McAllister has said that "my upbringing in West Berlin may have had an impact on my resentment towards communists.
I became a member of the CDU when I was 17 – it was a birthday present.
My parents said, 'What do you want for your birthday?’
I said I wanted to become a member of the CDU", explaining that his father was a conservative, although neither of his parents were involved in party politics.
McAllister was born in West Berlin on 12 January 1971 to a Scottish father and a German mother. His father, James Buchanan McAllister, who was originally from Glasgow (where the family still has relatives), was a British civil servant.  From 1969, James McAllister worked in West Berlin, while attached to the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals.
David McAllister's mother, Mechthild McAllister, is a music teacher.
He was raised bilingually and attended a British primary school in Berlin.
In a 2010 interview he linked his family's name to Clan MacAlister.
After his parents moved to the small town of Bad Bederkesa in Lower Saxony in 1982, he went to the Lower Saxon Internatsgymnasium (boarding school) in Bederkesa, where he took his Abitur in 1989. From 1989 till 1991, McAllister served his compulsory military service in the Bundeswehr, in Panzerbataillon 74 in Cuxhaven. From 1991–96 he studied law with a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation at the Leibniz University Hannover. In 1994, McAllister became local chairman of the CDU youth organisation, Junge Union, in the Cuxhaven district.
McAllister holds both German and British citizenship and speaks both German and English as native languages, although he has stated that he's "more or less completely German. I've lived in Germany all my life. I did all my school in Germany and my military service in Germany." His upbringing in West Berlin, however, he describes as "very British" with "British network, British schools". Holding dual citizenship, he could have relinquished his German citizenship to avoid compulsory military service in Germany (the UK does not have compulsory military service), but opted to serve instead.
McAllister has said that "my upbringing in West Berlin may have had an impact on my resentment towards communists. I became a member of the CDU when I was 17 – it was a birthday present. My parents said, 'What do you want for your birthday?’ I said I wanted to become a member of the CDU", explaining that his father was a conservative, although neither of his parents were involved in party politics.
David McAllister