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Sweden second in EU in giving Brits citizenship

The Local Sweden
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Sweden second in EU in giving Brits citizenship
New citizens are welcomed in Stockholm City Hall last summer. Photo: Lars Pedersen /TT

Sweden was second only to Germany in giving citizenship to resident Brits in the year the UK voted to leave the European Union, new EU figures show.

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According to figures from the Eurostat statistics agency, Sweden in 2016 gave citizenship to 978 resident Brits, compared to the 2,702 Brits who got citizenship in Germany.
 
Neighbouring Denmark, in contrast, granted citizenship to just 85 of the Brits living in the country.  
 
The number of Brits seeking citizenship in another EU country more than doubled from 655 to 2,478 between 2015 and 2016 as long-term residents raced to secure the advantages of national and European citizenship. 
 
According to the Eurostat figures, Sweden in 2016 was the second most generous EU country when it came to granting citizenship,  giving out nationality at more than twice the rate of neighbouring Denmark, France and Germany.
 
In 2016 Sweden granted eight citizenships per 100 resident foreigners, compared to 3.3 for Denmark, 2.7 for France and the UK, and just 1.3 for Germany. 
 
Croatia was the most generous EU country, granting 9.7 new citizenships per 100 resident foreigners. Portugal came closely after Sweden with 6.5.
 
In 2016, Somalis topped the list of nationalities granted Swedish citizenship, representing 14.8 percent of the 61,294 new citizens, followed by Syrians, who represented 7.3 percent, and 'stateless people' (defined by Eurostat as someone not recognized as a citizen of any country) with 7.2 percent. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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