In 2023, Sweden was the EU country that granted the most citizenships to migrants. Now that Eurostat has presented figures for 2024, it is clear that Sweden remains number one.

In 2023, 67,789 immigrants were granted Swedish citizenship. Even though this was a significant decrease compared to the previous year (92,225), it was still high compared to Sweden’s Nordic neighbors. 7.7 percent of Sweden’s foreign citizens received a Swedish passport.

This week, Eurostat presented the 2024 figures, which show that almost 1.2 million people received citizenship in one of the EU countries, a substantial increase compared to 2023—11.6 percent more (122,700 people). Compared to 2014, the increase is nearly 55 percent.

SEE ALSO: The proportion of Sweden’s population with a foreign background

The majority of the new EU citizenships were granted in Germany, with 288,700, corresponding to 24.5 percent of the EU’s total number. Spain took second place (252,500 / 21.4%) followed by Italy (217,400 / 18.5%).

The vast majority, 88 percent, came from countries outside the EU. Around ten percent came from another EU country.

As in the previous year, Syrians in 2024 were the largest group of new EU citizens with 110,100 granted citizenships, followed by Moroccans (97,100) and Albanians (48,000).

Sweden the Most Generous

The highest rate of naturalization, however, was found in Sweden, with 7.5 citizenships granted per 100 foreign residents, followed by Italy (4.1) and Spain and the Netherlands (3.9 each).

The lowest naturalization rates were in Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Estonia.

SEE ALSO: Sweden the most generous in Europe with granting citizenships