Acquisition of citizenship in the EU EU27 Member States granted citizenship to around 810 000 persons in 2010

20-11-2012 — /europawire.eu/ — In 2010, 810 500 persons acquired citizenship1 of an EU27 Member State. The highest number of citizenships were granted by the United Kingdom(195 000 persons), France (143 000), Spain (124 000) and Germany (105 000) which together accounted for 70% of all citizenships granted by the EU27 Member States. Compared with 2009, the number of acquisitions rose by 4% in the EU27 in 2010, mainly due to an increase in the number of citizenships granted by Spain.

The new citizens in the EU27 in 2010 came from Africa (29% of the total number of citizenships acquired), Asia (23%), non-EU27 Europe (19%),North and South America (19%), another EU27 Member State (9%) and Oceania (1%).

These data on the acquisition of citizenship of the EU27 Member States are taken from a report2 issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Highest number of citizenships granted per 1000 inhabitants in Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium and the United Kingdom

When compared with the total population of each Member State, the highest rates of citizenship granted were recorded in Luxembourg (8.6 citizenships granted per 1 000 inhabitants), Sweden (3.5), Belgium (3.2) and the United Kingdom (3.1). Twelve Member States granted less than one citizenship per 1 000 inhabitants. On average, 1.6 citizenships were granted per 1 000 inhabitants in the EU27.

The number of citizenships granted can also be related to the number of resident foreigners i.e. non-nationals resident in the Member State. The highest rates were registered in Portugal (5.6 citizenships granted per 100 resident foreigners), Poland (5.0), Sweden (4.9), the United Kingdom(4.6) and Malta (4.5), and the lowest in the Czech Republic (0.3), Slovakia (0.4) and Lithuania (0.5). On average, 2.4 citizenships were granted per 100 resident foreigners in the EU27.

Highest numbers of citizenships in the EU27 acquired by Moroccans, Turks, Ecuadorians and Indians

In 2010, the largest groups that acquired citizenship of an EU27 Member State were citizens of Morocco (67 000 persons), Turkey (49 900),Ecuador (45 200), India (34 700) and Colombia (27 500). Among the Member States with the highest total number of citizenships acquired, the largest groups in the United Kingdom were Indians (15% of total citizenships acquired) and Pakistanis (11%), in France, they were Moroccans(19% of total citizenships acquired) and Algerians (15%), in Spain, they were Ecuadorians (35%) and Colombians (19%) and in Germany they were Turks (25%).

In some Member States, a large part of the citizenships was granted to citizens from only one country. The Member States with the highest concentrations were Hungary (65% from Romania) and Greece (65% from Albania). In Latvia and Estonia, 96% and 91% respectively of the new citizens were recognised non-citizens3.

Acquisition of citizenship in the EU27, 2010

* Eurostat estimate

: Data not available

Largest groups acquiring citizenship in the EU27 Member States, 2010

* A stateless person is someone who is not recognized as a citizen of any State

** Data refer to Serbia & Montenegro, which existed between 2003 and 2006

: Data not available

Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

Iceland (IS), Liechtenstein (LI), Norway (NO), Switzerland (CH), Croatia (HR) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MK).

• Citizenship is the legal bond between an individual and a state, acquired by birth, naturalisation or other means according to national legislation. Naturalisation is the process by which a state grants its citizenship through a formal act on the application of the individual concerned. Other ways of granting citizenship may include spouses of nationals, minors adopted by nationals and descendants of nationals born abroad returning to the country of origin of their ancestors.

2. Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, 45/2012 “EU Member states granted citizenship to more than 800 000 persons in 2010”, available free of charge in pdf format on the Eurostat web site.

3. A majority of these persons were citizens of the former Soviet Union. A recognised non-citizen is a person who is neither a citizen of the reporting country nor of any other country, and who has established links to the reporting country which include some but not all rights and obligations of full citizenship.

Eurostat press releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

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