Moroccans, First Recipients of Citizenship of EU Member States in 2017

The Moroccan expatriates in Europe were the largest group that acquired the citizenship of a EU country in 2017, according to the European Union Statistics Agency.

In 2017, around 825,000 persons acquired citizenship of a Member country of the European Union (EU), down from 995,000 in 2016 and 841,000 in 2015, said Eurostat.

The Moroccans were the major beneficiaries of the citizenship of EU countries. They were in total 67,900 persons of whom 83 pc acquired citizenship of Italy, Spain or France, ahead of the Albanians (58,900) 97 pc of whom acquired citizenship of Greece or Italy; and Indians (31,600) with over 53 pc having acquired British citizenship.

The Turks rank 4th (29,900) with over 50 pc acquiring the German citizenship; followed by the Romanians (25, 000) of whom 32 pc acquired Italian citizenship; the Pakistanis (23 100), 45 pc acquiring UK citizenship; the Polish (22,000) with 63 pc acquiring the citizenship of the UK or Germany; and the Brazilians (21,600) of whom 74 pc acquired the Italian or Portuguese citizenship.

Moroccans, Albanians, Indians, Turks, Romanians, Pakistanis, Polish and Brazilians represented together about a third (34 pc) of the total number of persons who acquired citizenship of an EU country in 2017.

Romanians (25,000 persons), Polish (22,000) and Britons (15,000) were the three largest groups of EU citizens acquiring citizenship of another EU Member State.