Ane Barcos-Aquí Europa
Around 989,000 people acquired citizenship of the EU Member State in which they resided in 2022, an increase of around 20% compared to the previous year. Spain was the second country that granted the most nationalizations, only below Italy.
The European Union granted citizenship to almost one million people during 2022. Italy led the number of grants, with 213,700, representing 22% of the total citizenships granted in the Union, followed by Spain, with 181,800 people, and Germany, where 166,600 individuals acquired citizenship.
Data published this Thursday by the European Statistical Office, Eurostat, reveal that the largest increases in the granting of citizenships, compared to 2021, were recorded mainly in Italy, with 92,000 additional grants; followed by Spain, which granted 37,600 more citizenships than the previous year; and Germany, where 36,600 more individuals acquired nationality compared to 2021.
On the other hand, the Member States that experienced the largest reductions in the number of concessions compared to the previous year were France, with 15,900 fewer; Netherlands, which granted 9,300 fewer citizenships; and Portugal, which registered 3,700 fewer concessions.
According to Eurostat data, 87% of those who acquired European Union citizenship in the country where they resided were citizens of a country not belonging to the Union, while 11% already had the nationality of a Member State. . The remainder consists of individuals with unknown prior citizenship (1%) or stateless persons (0.7%).
Moroccan, Syrian and Albanian residents were the three main beneficiaries. During 2022, a total of 112,700 Moroccan residents acquired citizenship status, thus representing the largest group of new EU citizens. On the other hand, 90,400 Syrian citizens were granted citizenship. The third group to acquire citizenship were Albanian citizens, among whom 53,00 received EU citizen status.
