BRUSSELS – In 2015, around 840 000 persons acquired citizenship of a Member State of the European Union (EU), down from 890 000 in 2014 and 980 000 in 2013. Since 2010, more than 5 million persons in total were granted a citizenship of an EU Member Sate.
Of the total number of persons obtaining the citizenship of one of the EU Member States in 2015, 87% were non-EU citizens. The largest group acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State in 2015 was citizens of Morocco (86 100 persons, of whom 88% acquired citizenship of Italy, Spain or France), ahead of citizens of Albania (48 400, 96% acquired citizenship of Italy or Greece), Turkey (35 000, 56% acquired German citizenship), India (31 000, almost 60% acquired British citizenship), Romania (28 400, half acquired Italian citizenship), Pakistan (26 300, half acquired British citizenship) and Algeria (22 500, over three-quarters acquired French citizenship).
Moroccans, Albanians, Turks, Indians, Romanians, Pakistanis and Algerians represented together a third (33%) of the total number of persons who acquired citizenship of an EU Member State in 2015.
Romanians (28 400 persons) and Poles (17 800) were the two largest groups of EU citizens acquiring citizenship of another EU Member State.
These data come from an article issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
