By EuAsiaNews,
Brussels : In the year 2006,
735,000 persons acquired citizenship of an European Union member state compared with 722,000 in 2005,
647,000 in 2003 and 483,000 in 1998.
These new citizens in 2006 came mainly from non-EU European countries (27% of the total number of citizenships acquired), Africa (27%), Asia (22%) and North and South America (12%), according to figures released Wednesday by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical bureau.
In 2006, the highest number of citizenships were granted by the United Kingdom (154,000 persons), France (148,000) and Germany (125,000), which together accounted for nearly 60% of all citizenships granted by the 27 EU Member States.
15,125 Indians and 10,260 Pakistanis were granted UK citizenship in 2006.
The largest groups acquiring citizenship of an EU member state in 2006 were citizens of Turkey (64,000 persons), Morocco (48,000), Iraq (23,000), Ecuador (21, 000) and Serbia and Montenegro (20,000).
In many EU member states, the citizenship of a child is determined by its parents’ citizenship, rather than its place of birth. Therefore acquisition of citizenship concerns not only migrants but also their descendents.