Moroccans Lead in EU Citizenship Acquisitions, Eurostat Reports

Moroccan citizens formed the largest group of new citizens of an EU Member State of which they were residents in 2017, writes Eurostat, with Italy being the leading country granting nationality to Moroccans with 33.4%, followed by Spain with 25.2% and France with 24.6%.

Just behind the Moroccans, we find the Albanians, 58,900 of whose nationals obtained a European nationality, then the Indians (31,600) and finally the Turks (29,900), the majority of whom obtained German nationality.

In 2016, 101,300 Moroccans had obtained the nationality of a European Union country, or 10.2% of the total of foreigners who acquired the citizenship of an EU country. Moroccan nationals were the main beneficiaries of Spanish (24.5%), French (14.9%) and Belgian (12.5%) nationality.