Eurostat: Citizenship granted to 729 000 people in 2020

In 2020, 729 000 people acquired citizenship of an EU Member State where they lived, a 3% increase from 706 400 in 2019. This increase was mainly due to the increases recorded in Spain (+27 300 Spanish citizenships granted than in 2019), followed by the Netherlands (+21 800), Sweden (+16 000), and Portugal (+11 000).

Moroccans, Syrians and Albanians main recipients of citizenship

In 2020, Moroccans were the largest group among new EU-citizens (68 900 people, of whom 86% acquired citizenship of Spain, Italy or France), ahead of Syrians (50 200, 49% acquired citizenship of Sweden), Albanians (40 500, 70% acquired citizenship of Italy).

Most new citizenships were granted by Italy (131 800 or 18%), Spain (126 300 or 17%), Germany (111 200 or 15% of the EU total), France (86 500 or 12%), and Sweden (80 200 or 11%) accounting for 73% of new citizenships granted in the EU in 2020.

Highest naturalisation rates in Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands

The naturalisation rate is the ratio of the number of persons who acquired the citizenship of a country during a year over the stock of non-national residents in the same country at the beginning of the year. In 2020, the highest naturalisation rates were registered in Sweden (8.6 citizenships granted per 100 resident non-nationals), Portugal (5.5), and the Netherlands (4.8).

At the opposite end of the scale, naturalisation rates below 1 citizenship acquisition per 100 resident non-nationals were recorded in Lithuania (0.2), Estonia (0.4), Latvia (0.4), Czechia (0.5), Austria (0.6), Slovakia (0.7), Bulgaria (0.8) and Ireland (0.9).

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20220318-1