The study, carried out by the Canadian immigration agency CanadaCIS, analysed the most recent Eurostat data on immigration, from 2009 to 2021, to determine which countries have the highest and lowest percentage of third-country residents becoming citizens.

The ten countries where it is easiest to obtain nationality are less clustered than the most difficult countries, with four in Northern and Western Europe and one in Southern and Southeastern Europe. At least one in 20 (5 percent) third-country residents becomes a citizen annually in each country.

Sweden is the easiest country, with almost one in ten (9.3 percent) non-EU residents acquiring citizenship, more than double the EU average. Compared to other countries, Sweden records the highest acceptance rates for both men and women. Women have an advantage, with an acceptance rate of 10.02 percent, compared to 8.66 percent for men.

Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal and Iceland are the second to fifth countries where it is easiest to acquire nationality, with acquisition rates exceeding one in 25 (4 percent).

Portugal ranks fourth among the 32 European countries where it is easiest to obtain citizenship, with more than three in every 50 (6.6 percent) residents of third countries becoming citizens, according to the survey reported by NM.

Most difficult

The analysis also revealed which 10 European countries are most difficult to obtain nationality – with nine of them located in Central Europe.

Estonia is the country where it is most difficult for residents of third countries to obtain nationality. It has the lowest average percentage of residents obtaining nationality, around one in every 200 (0.6 percent). Men are less likely to be accepted, with a lower acquisition rate of 0.58 percent compared to 0.69 percent for women.

Latvia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, in turn, are the next three countries where it is most difficult to acquire nationality, with less than 1 percent of their third-country residents doing so, compared to the European average of 3. 56 percent.

Countries ranked fifth to ninth - Austria, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia and Germany - grant citizenship to less than one in fifty (2 percent) third-country residents.

Finally, Denmark is the country outside Central Europe where it is most difficult to obtain citizenship, with an acquisition rate of 2 percent.