European Union member states have collectively granted more than 800,000 certificates of citizenship to foreigners living and working within their borders, new data from Eurostat has revealed.
This marks a four per cent increase on figures from 2009, which was largely boosted by the number of people being naturalised by Spain.
Overall the country came in third place (124,000) in terms of the numbers of new citizenships being granted. Leading the way was the UK (195,000) and France (143,000).
The significance of this is that it marks the second consecutive year of increases in the number of certificates of citizenship being delivered by EU members. For the period of 2007-2008, there had been a decline.
Eurostat explains that the “act of acquisition of citizenship” is seen as being a reliable indicator of successful integration into a country.
“It usually implies a good knowledge of the country’s language, culture and society, as well as some level of contribution to economic activity in general,” the statistical office of the EU has stated.
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