Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands registered the highest degree of naturalization in 2020
Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands are the three best countries that registered the highest degree of naturalization in 2020.
According to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Eurostat, naturalization, which represents the process of a non-EU citizen becoming a legal EU citizen, continued to increase in 2020.
Sweden was the country that registered the highest degree of naturalization in 2020. The latter authorities granted 8.6 citizenship per 100 resident foreign citizens during that period, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
Sweden is followed by Portugal and the Netherlands. Eurostat revealed that in 2020, Portugal granted 5.5 citizenship per 100 foreign nationals residing. In addition, during the same period, the Netherlands granted 4.8 citizenship per 100 foreign nationals resident.
High naturalization rates were also recorded in Finland (2.6 citizenship per 100 foreign residents), Italy (2.6), Spain (2.4) and Belgium (2.4).
“The degree of naturalization is the ratio between the number of people who have acquired citizenship in a country during a year and the proportion of foreign residents in the same country at the beginning of the year. In 2020, the highest naturalization rates were registered in Sweden (5.5) and the Netherlands (4.8), followed by Finland (2.9), Italy (2.6), Spain and Belgium (both 2.4) “, the statement from Eurostat reads.
On the other hand, at the opposite end of the scale, naturalization rates were recorded during an acquisition of citizenship per 100 resident foreign nationals in Lithuania (0.2), Latvia (0.4), Estonia (0.4), the Czech Republic (0.5). ), Austria (0.6), Slovakia (0.7), Bulgaria (0.8) and Ireland (0.9).
In terms of citizenship, Eurostat revealed that by 2020, 729,000 people in general acquired citizenship in the EU Member States where they lived. Compared with the data registered during the pre-pandemic period, the EU countries showed an increase of three percent.
“This increase was mainly due to increases in Spain (+27,300 granted Spanish citizenship over 2019), followed by the Netherlands (+21,800), Sweden (+16,000) and Portugal (+11,000),” Eurostat added.
On the other hand, the largest decreases were observed in France (-23,300 granted French citizenship compared to 2019), followed by Germany with a decrease of -6,700 and Romania with a decrease of -4,000.
The majority of those who acquired citizenship in an EU Member State by 2020 were former citizens of a country outside the EU. Some were also stateless. Former nationals of other Member States accounted for 13% of the total number of citizenships acquired.
Moroccans, Syrians and Albanians received the most EU citizenship by 2020. In addition, citizens of Romania, Poland and Italy were the most important EU citizens to receive citizenship from the other Member States.