Filenews 15 March 2021
In 2019, a total of 706 400 people gained citizenship from an EU-27 Member State, an increase of 5% compared to 2018, according to data published by Eurostat, the EU statistics office.
This was mainly caused by absolute increases in Germany (15 200 more people received German citizenship than in 2018), followed by Italy (14 500), Spain (8 200), the Netherlands (6 300) and Belgium (4 400).
In contrast, the largest reductions in absolute terms were observed in Greece (16 300 people in 2019 or 11 500 fewer people received Greek citizenship compared to 2018), followed by Ireland (2 400), Luxembourg (1 300) and Denmark (1 100).
Cyprus was granted citizenship to 2900 people, compared to 3200 in 2018 and 3700 in 2017, 3100 in 2016 and 2400 in 2015.
In relation to the population, the highest number of nationalities was granted by Luxembourg (9.1 per thousand persons) followed by Sweden (6.2), Belgium (3.5) and Cyprus (3.2). This percentage is 1.5 in Greece.
With regard to the naturalisation rate (the ratio of the number of persons who acquired citizenship in a country during one year compared to the reserve of foreign residents in the same country at the beginning of the year), in 2019, the highest rates were recorded in Sweden (7.0 nationalities per 100 foreign residents), Romania (4.7) and Portugal (4.4), followed by Finland (3.8) , the Netherlands (3,2) and Belgium (2,9).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest rates were recorded in Lithuania (0.2), Denmark (0.3), Estonia (0.4), the Czech Republic (0.5), Latvia (0.6), Austria (0.7), Bulgaria and Slovakia (from 0.8), as well as Malta and Ireland (from 0.9). In Cyprus this figure was 1.84 and in Greece 1.96.
The majority of those who received citizenship from an EU Member State in 2019 were previously citizens of a third country or stateless, while former citizens of another EU Member State accounted for 13% of the total number of nationalities acquired.
In 2019, Moroccans were the largest group among young EU citizens (66 800 people, of which 84% acquired the nationality of Spain, Italy or France), compared to Albanians (41 700, 62% acquired citizenship of Italy), British (29 800, 75% acquired nationality of Germany, Sweden or France), Syrians (29 100 , 69% acquired the nationality of Sweden), Turks (28 600, 57% acquired German citizenship), Romanians (26 600, 60% acquired the nationality of Italy or Germany), The Brazilians (23 500, 73% acquired the nationality of Italy or Portugal), the Ukrainians (18 100, 59% acquired the nationality of Germany, Poland or Italy), the Algerians (18 000 , 82% acquired French citizenship) and The Russians ( 16 400, 31% acquired German citizenship).
Compared to 2018, Moroccans and Albanians remained the main recipients, while the British climbed from seventh to third place.
Romanians (26 600 people), Poles (12 600) and Italians (8 700) remained the three largest groups of EU citizens who gained citizenship from another EU Member State, as in 2018.
Most new nationalities were granted by Germany (132 000 or 19% of the EU as a whole), Italy (127 000 or 18%), France (109 800 or 16%), Spain (99 000 or 14%). Sweden (64 200 or 9%) account for 75% of new nationalities granted to the EU in 2019.
Source: eyenews/CYPE
