Luxembourg granted citizenship to 3,315 people in 2016 Pexels

Luxembourg granted citizenship to 3,315 people in 2016 Pexels

Eurostat figures published on Monday conflicted somewhat with data released by Luxembourg justice minister Félix Braz, however, who last year reported the 2016 figure to be 2,976 (not including the 3,400 people who “recovered” Luxembourg citizenship).

Eurostat concluded that proportionately, Sweden was the strongest issuer at 6.2 per 1,000 residents, followed by Luxembourg with 5.7 and then Cyprus with 5.5.

Luxembourg’s economy relies heavily on the importation of talent from abroad with foreign nationals from over 170 different nationalities making up 48% of the country’s total population. The strongest demand for Luxembourg nationality came from Portuguese nationals, who made up almost a third of new citizens, followed by French and Belgians, who both made up roughly one in ten.

Almost 1 million new citizens

In 2016, EU member states granted citizenship to 994,800 people, up 18% from 2015. The median age of new citizens was 31 while 40% of them were under 25.

According to Eurostat, five countries granted three quarters of all new citizenships. They were: Italy (20%), Spain (15%), UK (15%), France (12%) and Germany (11%).

Meanwhile, Spain recorded the biggest increases in citizenship numbers at 36,600, followed by the UK (31,400) and Italy (23,600).

The number of UK nationals who acquired citizenship from an EU member state more than doubled in 2016, from 2,478 to 6,555. This growth could certainly be connected to Britain’s referendum in which a slight majority voted in favour of the UK’s departure from the EU.