For the first time since 2002 the number of passports issued in France has fallen to a record low – less than 100,000. If in 2011 French citizenship was given to 114,600 people, then in 2012 – just to 96,088 people. These are the latest figures from Eurostat, informs the ee24.com with reference to The Local.
France with its 66 million of citizens still remains the leader in the number of naturalized citizens, along with Great Britain (193,000 people), Germany (114,600), Spain (94,100) and Italy (65,400) in a quantitative sense.
New French citizens mostly become immigrants from non-European countries (78%), mainly from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. As for the European nations, the "new French" are former residents of Portugal, Romania and Italy.