Italy first in granting citizenship in EU in 2022

Brussels – In 2022, 989,000 people acquired the citizenship of the EU country in which they lived, an increase of about 20 percent (+163,100 people) compared with 2021.

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

A Flourish chart

The largest increases in citizenships granted to non-national residents in 2022, compared to 2021, were recorded in Italy (+92,200), Spain (+37,600) and Germany (+36,600). At the other end of the scale, the largest decreases were recorded in France (-15,900), the Netherlands (-9,300), and Portugal (-3,700). Data show that 87 pct of all those granted EU citizenship from the country in which they lived were citizens of a non-EU country. Citizens of an EU country other than their country of residence accounted for 12 percent. The rest had unknown previous citizenship (1 percent) or were stateless (0.7 percent).

This information comes from the acquisition of citizenship data published today by Eurostat.

Moroccans, Syrians, and Albanians remained the top three recipients of citizenship

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

Romania recorded the highest naturalization rate in 2022

The naturalization rate is the ratio of the number of people who acquired the citizenship of a country in which they lived during a year  over the stock of non-national residents in the same country at the beginning of the year.

In 2022, Romania had the highest naturalization rate among EU countries, with 26.8 citizenships granted for every 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 naturalization rates per 100 non-national residents were recorded in Latvia and Estonia (both 0.4), Austria and Bulgaria (both 0.7) and Malta and the Czech Republic (both 0.8).