A person giving his passport and getting his citizenship application approved

In 2022, 989Ā 000 people acquired theĀ citizenshipĀ of theĀ EUĀ country where they lived, an increase of around 20% (+163Ā 100 people) compared with 2021.

Most of the new citizenships (in absolute numbers) were granted by Italy (213Ā 700; 22% of the EU total). Spain (181Ā 800; 18% of the EU total) and Germany (166Ā 600; 17%) granted the second and third highest numbers of new citizenships.

The largest increases in citizenships granted to non-national residents in 2022, when compared with 2021, were recorded in Italy (+92Ā 200), Spain (+37Ā 600), and Germany (+36Ā 600). At the other end of the scale, the largest decreases were noted in France (-15Ā 900), the Netherlands (-9Ā 300), and Portugal (-3Ā 700).

Data show that 87% of all those granted an EU citizenship of the country where they lived were citizens of a non-EU country. Citizens of another EU country than the country of residence accounted for 12%. The rest had either an unknown previous citizenship (1%) or were stateless (0.7%).

This information comes fromĀ dataĀ on the acquisition of citizenship published by Eurostat today. This article presents just a handful of findings from the more detailedĀ Statistics Explained article.

Moroccans, Syrians, and Albanians remained the top 3 recipients

Main recipients of an EU country citizenship, 2022. Bar chart. Click dataset below.

Source dataset:Ā migr_acq

In 2022, Moroccan residents were the largest group of new EU citizens, with a total of 112Ā 700 citizenship status granted. The second largest group were Syrian nationals with 90Ā 400 granted citizenship, followed by Albanians with 50Ā 300 being granted citizenship.

Romania had the highest naturalisation rate in 2022.

Naturalisation rate in the EU, 2022. Bar chart. Click dataset below.

Source dataset:Ā migr_acqs

TheĀ naturalisation rateĀ is the ratio of the number of persons who acquired the citizenship of a country where they were living during a year over the stock of non-national residents in the same country at the beginning of the year.

In 2022, Romania recorded the highest naturalisation rate among EU countries, with 26.8 citizenships granted per 100 non-national residents. Sweden stood at 10.6, followed by the Netherlands at 4.4 and Italy at 4.2.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest naturalisation rates per 100 non-national residents were recorded in Latvia and Estonia (both 0.4), Austria and Bulgaria (both 0.7), and Malta and Czechia (both 0.8).

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20240229-1