Brazilians are among the top ten nationalities worldwide to obtain European Union citizenship in 2022. There were 25.9 thousand grants, a 26% increase compared to the previous year. Of this total, almost 70% of citizenships were obtained in Italy and Portugal.
Brazil ranks seventh on the list of beneficiaries, amidst nations whose citizens emigrated due to wars, internal conflicts, or economic difficulties. It is also alongside countries geographically close to the EU borders. Besides Brazil, Morocco, Syria, Albania, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, India, Moldova, and Russia are included in the list. The data were released by Eurostat, the bloc's statistics institute, and are the most recent available.
Brazil's numbers were boosted by Italy. In 2022, the Italian government granted 11.2 thousand citizenships to Brazilians, more than double the previous year.
Eurostat data do not reveal how citizenships are obtained. At the request of the report, Istat (Italian statistics institute) identified the types of requests that Brazilians benefited from. It is mainly due to the right of blood (ius sanguinis, in Latin, as it is called) that they also become Italians. In 2022, 83% of citizenships were recognized following this criterion.