(Finance) – In 2023, 1.1 million people they have acquired the citizenship of the country of the European Union where they livedwith an increase of about 6.1% (+60,200 people) compared to 2022. The statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) announces it.
Most of the new citizens was granted by Spain (240.200; 22.9% of the EU total), fromItaly (213,600; 20.3%) and by Germany (199,800; 19.0%).
The majority (87.6%) of the people to whom EU citizenship was granted were citizens of an non-EU country. Citizens of an EU country different from the country of residence represented 10.7%.
In 2023, i Syrian citizens they were the largest group of new EU citizens, with a total of 107,500 new citizenships granted. The second largest group was made up of citizens Moroccan with 106,500 citizenships granted, followed by Albanians (44,400).
The naturalization rate is the relationship between the number of people who acquired the citizenship of a country in which they lived during a year and the total number of foreign residents in the same country at the beginning of the year. In 2023, the Sweden recorded the higher naturalization rate Among the EU countries, with 7.9 citizenships granted every 100 foreign residents, followed by Romania (5.9) and Italy (4.1). At the other extreme of the scale, the lowest naturalization rates every 100 foreign residents were recorded in the Baltic states: Lithuania (0.1), Latvia (0.4) and Estonia (0.5).