Spain was the EU country that granted the most nationalities in 2023

Eduardo González In 2023, EU countries granted nationality to more than 1.1 million people with habitual residence in the territory of the Union. At the top of the list is Spain, with almost 23 percent of the total, especially to Moroccans and Venezuelans. According to data published this Friday by Eurostar, these figures represent an increase of around 6.1% compared to 2022. This boom was mainly due to the increase in nationalities recorded, in absolute terms, in Spain (58,600 more than in 2022), Germany (33,200 more) and Belgium (6,700 more). On the other hand, the largest decreases in absolute terms compared to 2022 were observed in Sweden (24,400 fewer), France (17,200 fewer) and Portugal (3,800 fewer). As far as total figures are concerned, Spain tops the list, with 240,200 (representing 22.9% of the EU total). It is followed by Italy (213,600, 20.3%) and Germany (199,800, 19.0%). These three countries, together with France (97,300, 9.3%) and Sweden (67,800, 6.5 %) accounted for 78 % of all new EU citizenships granted in 2023. In relative terms, the largest increases occurred in Ireland (34.3 %), Estonia (32.7 %), Spain (32.2 %) and Poland (23.3 %), while the largest decreases occurred in Lithuania (-78.1 %), Bulgaria (-55.4 %) and Denmark (-34.8 %) (Chart 2). Furthermore, the majority (87.6 %) of people granted EU citizenship were citizens of a non-EU country. Citizens of another EU country other than the country of residence accounted for 10.7%. In the case of Spain, the number of new EU citizens was 9,300, or 3.9% of the total, while those from outside the EU accounted for 96%, or almost 231,000. During this period, Syrians constituted the largest group of new EU citizens, with a total of 107,500. The second largest group was Moroccans, with 106,500 nationalities, followed by Albanians, with 44,400, Romanians, with 37,200, and Venezuelans, with 32,100. In this regard, Spain is the country that granted the most nationalities to Moroccans, accounting for almost 51% of the EU total, followed by Italy, France and Belgium. Spain also comes first among Venezuelans (almost 94 percent of the entire EU). Spain comes second among Argentinians (30 percent) and Brazilians (almost 20 percent), third among Romanians (13 percent) and fourth among Ukrainians (9.6 percent, behind Germany, Italy and Poland).

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