NUMBERS of foreign residents choosing to take Spanish nationality have risen by nearly a third in the last two years, and anecdotal evidence hints that the figure may go up even more after Brexit at the end of March 2019.
As yet, British citizens do not figure in the top 11, since there is rarely any need for European Union nationals to acquire a Spanish passport – although an increasing number of Brits say they are considering doing so once the UK leaves the EU if their existing rights are not retained in full.
Moroccans were the most likely to obtain Spanish citizenship, based upon figures for the year 2016 – the most recent on record at present – which is unsurprising, given that two of Spain's provinces border by land onto the North African country.
They totalled 37,009, a long way ahead of any other national group.
Morocco's historical cultural ties with Spain make it inevitable that the country would be among the top for producing new Spanish nationals, and all the others in the 10 most frequent are either former colonies or, in the case of Brazil, at number nine with 3,427, an immediate neighbour of an ex-colony.
Bolivians were the second-largest national group to acquire citizenship in 2016, at 15,802, followed by Ecuador (15,255) and Colombia (14,299).
Although foreign resident statistics show that these three nationalities, once the most prolific in Spain, have dropped considerably in the last 10 years or so, it is likely this is due to high numbers of them 'becoming Spanish' rather than returning to their countries of origin.
The Dominican Republic is fifth, with 9,176 becoming Spanish, followed by Cuba (4,353), Argentina (3,716) Brazil, and Paraguay (3,358).
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com