U.S. Naturalizations Similar to European Levels

Data from the OECD shows that despite the fact that the United States practices birthright citizenship and European countries do not, the number of naturalizations per 1,000 residents are similar in the U.S. and many European countries. Among birthright citizenship countries, naturalization numbers vary widely, with Canada having the highest rate in the OECD at 9.6 naturalizations per 1,000 residents and Mexico the lowest at just 0.01 per 1,000 in 2022.

The U.S. rate of 3 naturalizations per 1,000 residents is similar to those in the Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom or Germany. Some Scandinavian nations actually naturalize higher levels of residents, while in France and Eastern European countries, this number is lower. An outlier among European nations is tiny Luxembourg, which naturalized 16 persons per 1,000 residents in 2022 and whose population is made up of more than 50 percent foreign-born residents.