Almost 818,000 migrants became citizens of the 28 European Union countries in 2012, according to figures released by Eurostat yesterday. Greece granted 16,200 citizenships and Cyprus 2,300.
In 2012, 4% more citizenships were granted compared to 2011. More than 85% of citizenships were given to non-European natives. The most citizenships were given to migrants from Morocco (59,300 or 8.2%), Turkey (53,800 or 6.2%), Ecuador (4.3%), India (4%) and Iraq (3.7%).
The “new” European citizens have a median age of 31.4 years, when the EU28 population has a median age of 41.6, while 35.3% of those who received citizenship are under 25 years of age. Those aged 28-54 accounted for a 58.4% and only 6% were 55 and older.
Greece granted 16,200 citizenships in 2012, with only .2% of them to citizens of other EU28 countries. Most citizenships were given to migrants from Albania (84.2%). Also, 1.8% were Egyptians, 1.2% Syrians and 1.1% Ukrainians. Greece had granted 17,500 citizenships in 2011. Also, there were 1.5 citizenships granted per 1000 residents.
The United Kingdom was the country granting the most citizenships (193,900 people or 23.7 of total migrants). Germany follows with 114,600 citizenships granted (14%), France came third at 11.7% or 96,100 citizenships. Spain was fourth granting 94,100 citizenships (11.5%), Italy was fifth at 8% (65,400 people) and Sweden was sixth granting 50,200 citizenships (6.1%).
On the other end, Liechtenstein granted only 100 citizenships, Lithuania 200, Slovakia 300, Iceland 400, Croatia and Malta with 1,100 each, Estonia 1,300 and Slovenia with 1,500 citizenships.
The country with the most citizenships granted per 1000 inhabitants was Luxembourg (8.7 per 1000 inhabitants). Ireland and Sweden came second and third at 5.5% and 5.3% respectively. On average, 1.6 citizenships were granted for every 1000 inhabitants of the EU28.
Cyprus granted 2,300 citizenships, with 34.8% of them given to Greeks, 17.1% to inhabitants of the United Kingdom, 8% to South Africans and 8% to Russians.
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