Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Society

In 2012, the highest naturalisation rates were registered in Hungary (12.8 citizenships granted per 100 resident foreigners), Sweden (7.8) and Poland (6.6), and the lowest in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (both 0.4), Estonia (0.6) and Austria (0.7). On average, 2.4 citizenships were granted per 100 resident foreigners in the EU28.

As regards the characteristics of the new citizens in the EU28, the median age of persons granted citizenship in 2012 was 31.4 years (compared with 41.6 for the total EU28 population), with more than a third (35.3%) aged less than 25 years and more than half (58.4%) aged 25 to 54, while those aged 55 or over accounted for around 6%. For the whole EU28 population as of 1 January of 2012, the shares were 27.3%, 42.2% and 30.4% respectively.

Three quarters of all persons who acquired an EU28 citizenship in 2012 became citizens of one of the following six member-states: the United Kingdom (193,900 persons, or 23.7% of all citizenships granted in the EU28 in 2012), Germany (114,600 or 14.0%), France (96,100 or 11.7%), Spain (94,100 or 11.5%), Italy (65,400 or 8.0%) and Sweden (50,200 or 6.1%).

When compared with the total population of each member-state, the highest rates of citizenship granted were recorded in Luxembourg (8.7 citizenships granted per 1,000 inhabitants), Ireland (5.5) and Sweden (5.3). On average, 1.6 citizenships were granted per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU28.