Eurostat: Romanians, Poles, Britons – first EU citizens in acquiring citizenship of another EU country

In 2017, around 825,000 persons acquired citizenship of a Member State of the European Union (EU), down from 995,000 in 2016 and 841,000 in 2015.

Romanians (25,000 persons), Poles (22,000) and Britons (15,000) were the three largest groups of EU citizens acquiring citizenship of another EU Member State, Eurostat informs.

Of the total number of persons obtaining the citizenship of one of the EU Member States in 2017, 17% were former citizens of another EU Member State, while the majority were non-EU citizens or stateless. The largest group acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State where they lived in 2017 was citizens of Morocco (67,900 persons, of whom 83% acquired citizenship of Italy, Spain or France), ahead of citizens of Albania (58,900, 97% acquired citizenship of Greece or Italy), India (31,600, over 53% acquired British citizenship),Turkey (29,900, over 50% acquired German citizenship), Romania (25,000, 32% acquired Italian citizenship), Pakistan (23,100, 45% acquired citizenship of the United Kingdom), Poland (22,000, 63% acquired citizenship of the United Kingdom or Germany), and Brazil (21,600, 74% acquired citizenship of Italy or Portugal). Moroccans, Albanians, Indians, Turks, Romanians, Pakistanis, Poles and Brazilians represented together about a third (34%) of the total number of persons who acquired citizenship of an EU Member State in 2017.

Half of the Member States granted citizenship to more people in 2017 than they did in 2016. The  largest relative increases were  recorded in Romania (from  4,527 persons in  2016 to  6,804 persons in  2017, or +50%), Luxembourg (from 3,315 to 4,980, also +50%), Slovakia (from 484 to 645, or +33%), Malta (from 1,495 to 1,973, or +32%) and Finland (from 9,375 to 12,219, or +30%).The number of citizenships granted fell in the other half of the Member States in 2017,  with the largest decrease registered in Croatia (from 3,973 to 688, or -83%), followed by Spain (from 150,944 to 66,498, or -56%), Denmark (from 15,028 to 7,272, or -52%), and Estonia (from 1,780 to 880, or -51%).

Highest naturalisation rates in Sweden and Romania

The naturalization rate is the ratio of the number of persons who acquired the citizenship of a country during a year over  the  stock  of  foreign  residents  in  the  same  country  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. In 2017, the highest naturalisation rates were registered in Sweden (8.2 citizenships granted per 100 resident foreigners), Romania (5.9) and Finland (5.0), followed by Portugal (4.5), Greece (4.2) and Cyprus (3.9).  At  the  opposite  end  of  the scale,  naturalisation  rates  below  1  citizenship acquisition per  100  resident  foreigners  were  recorded  in Estonia (0.4), Latvia (0.6), Austria and Czechia (both 0.7), Slovakia and Lithuania (both 0.9).