Number of people granted Swedish citizenship drops 40 percent

Statistics published on Friday showed that the number of people granted Swedish citizenship fell to 38,800 in 2025, down from 65,600 the previous year, a fall Migration Agency Director General Maria Mindhammar put down to new security checks applied from April. 

"We began implementing the new measures in the spring. The implementation phase itself meant that the number of cases decided decreased significantly," she said in a press statement. "Citizenship applications are now being examined according to the new procedures, but the new system means that each case takes more time. This in turn affects the pace of decision-making." 

Before the new stricter citizenship checks were brought in, Migration Minister Johan Forssell reassured The Local that they would only affect people from "high-risk countries", and that only people from so-called "high-risk" countries would be called in for interviews.

The Migration Agency, however, insisted on calling every citizenship applicant in for an in-person interview, no matter which country they came from, and the dramatic drop in citizenship awards as a result has affected citizens of all countries.

While the number of citizenship awards nearly halved, the number of cases receiving a decision was less affected due to the agency's decision to focus on cut-and-dried cases while waiting for the system of security checks to be established.

The number of decisions reached fell 32 percent from 76,300 in 2024 to around 52,000 in 2025. 

The number of work permits awarded also fell, dropping 15 percent from 27,009 to 22,958 year-on-year. The number of first-time work permits awarded fell from 13,427 to 11,100, while the number of work permits extended fell from 20,696 to 19,605.. 

In total, the agency issued 89,000 residency permits to first time applicants in 2025, down from 94,000 the previous year. 

"The decrease has several explanations," Mindhammar said. "Among other things, we received fewer applications for asylum and work permits in 2025. The stricter self-sufficiency requirement and the abolition of the track change law have also affected the number of work permits granted."