In 2023, EU countries granted citizenship to 1.1 million people, marking an increase of about 6.1% (+60,200 people) compared to 2022. Moroccans ranked second on the list of those who obtained citizenship in EU countries, according to numbers shared by Eurostat last week. The largest number of new nationalities were granted by Spain (240,200; 22.9% of the EU total), followed by Italy (213,600; 20.3%) and Germany (199,800; 19.0%), said the organization responsible for providing the EU with statistical information at the European level. The vast majority (87.6%) of those who acquired citizenship in an EU country were citizens of non-EU countries, while citizens of other EU countries accounted for 10.7%. In 2023, Syrians were the largest group to obtain EU citizenship, with 107,500 granted citizenship. Moroccans came second with 106,500 citizenships granted, followed by Albanians (44,400). Sweden had the highest naturalization rate among EU countries, granting 7.9 citizenships per 100 non-citizen residents, followed by Romania (5.9) and Italy (4.1). At the other end of the spectrum, the Baltic states had the lowest naturalization rates, with Lithuania ranking last (0.1), followed by Latvia (0.4) and Estonia (0.5). The naturalization rate is calculated by the ratio of the number of people who acquired the citizenship of their country of residence during the year to the total number of non-citizen residents in the same country at the beginning of the year.
