Luxembourg, 28 February 2025
In 2023, 1.1 million people acquired the citizenship of the EU country where they lived, an increase of around 6.1% (+60 200 people) compared with 2022.
Most of the new citizenships were granted by Spain (240 200; 22.9% of the EU total), Italy (213 600; 20.3%) and Germany (199 800; 19.0%).
The majority (87.6%) of the people granted an EU citizenship were citizens of a non-EU country. Citizens of another EU country than the country of residence accounted for 10.7%.
This information comes from data on the acquisition of citizenship published by Eurostat today. This article presents just a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
Syrians, Moroccans and Albanians top 3 recipients
In 2023, Syrian nationals were the largest group of new EU citizens, with a total of 107 500 new citizenships granted. The second largest group were Moroccan nationals with 106 500 granted citizenships, followed by Albanians (44 400) (Source dataset: migr_acq).
Sweden had the highest naturalisation rate in 2023
The naturalisation rate is the ratio of the number of persons who acquired the citizenship of a country where they were living during a year over the total number of non-national residents in the same country at the beginning of the year.
In 2023, Sweden recorded the highest naturalisation rate among EU countries, with 7.9 citizenships granted per 100 non-national residents, followed by Romania (5.9) and Italy (4.1). At the other end of the scale, the lowest naturalisation rates per 100 non-national residents were recorded in the Baltic states: Lithuania (0.1), Latvia (0.4) and Estonia (0.5). (Source dataset: migr_acqs).
For more information
- Statistics Explained article on the acquisition of citizenship statistics
- Thematic section on international migration and citizenship
- Database on migration and citizenship
- Migration and asylum in Europe – 2024 edition
- Demography of Europe – 2024 edition
Methodological notes
- This news article concerns the acquisition of citizenship by the usually resident population of EU members. Usual residence means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage.
- 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 application of the individual concerned. Another way of granting citizenship may include granting it to spouses of nationals, minors adopted by nationals and descendants of nationals born abroad returning to the country of origin of their ancestors.
- The naturalisation rate is the ratio of the number of persons who acquired the citizenship of a country during a calendar year over the stock of non-national residents in the same country at the beginning of the year. The naturalisation rate should be used with caution, however, as the numerator includes all modes of acquisition and not just naturalisation of eligible residing non-nationals and the denominator includes all non-nationals and not just the relevant population, i.e. those non-nationals who are eligible for naturalisation.
Source – Eurostat