Moroccan Immigrants Lead in Spanish Citizenship Grants, Over 42,000 Naturalized in 2021

Moroccans are at the top of the list of foreigners who obtained Spanish nationality in 2021, according to an INE report published on Friday. Out of 144,012 foreigners, 42,000 of them were naturalized as Spaniards. They are followed by Colombians (8,328), Ecuadorians (8,325), Bolivians (8,311), Dominicans (6,791), Venezuelans (6,536) and Pakistanis (5,921), reports El Espanol.

To read: Moroccans Lead in Acquiring Spanish Citizenship, Outpacing Other Nationalities

Most of them (121,760) obtained nationality by legally and continuously residing in the peninsula for at least 10 years from the date of the application. The remaining 21,712 are minors under the age of 20 whose one parent is Spanish and born in Spain.

To read: Morocco Leads Foreign Nationalities Gaining Spanish Citizenship in 2018

By gender, 47.8% are men and 52.2% are women. By age, the 40-49 age group is the largest, closely followed by the 30-39 age group. According to the year of arrival in Spain, 22.5% have always resided in Spain and the remaining 77.5% had resided abroad.

Nearly half (47.4%) of the 144,012 foreign residents obtained Spanish nationality mainly in Catalonia (42,371) and Madrid (25,827).