Acquisitions of Spanish nationality have grown by 46.4% in a decade in the Balearics, with a total of 9,366 registered last year compared to 6,394 in 2014. This is according to the Statistics on the Acquisition of Spanish Nationality by Residents published on Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which indicates that compared to 2023, when 8,339 acquisitions of nationality were recorded, the increase is 12.32%.
Of the total number of people who acquired Spanish nationality in the Balearic Islands, 4,354 (46.4%) were men and 5,012 were women (53.5%), while the largest age group was 30 to 34 years old (1,103). By country, a total of 1,380 correspond to people born in Colombia (14.7%) and 669 in Argentina (7.14%). Behind them are those from Venezuela (616 - 6.5%) and Ecuador (500 - 5.3%).
In general terms, the acquisition of nationality by people from South America (4,683) has grown by 10% in 10 years to 15.8%, and from Africa (2,290) the increase is 32.5% in a decade. Those from Asian countries increased by 69% to 495 acquisitions last year.
Similarly, there was a notable increase (69%) in acquisitions (1,010) by people from Central America and the Caribbean. Across the country as a whole, the number of foreign residents who acquired Spanish nationality increased by 5.1% in 2024. Of the foreigners who acquired Spanish nationality in 2024, 44% were men and 56.0% were women. By age, people aged 30 to 39 were the largest group in terms of acquisitions of Spanish nationality, followed by the 40 to 49 age group.
With regard to the methods of acquiring Spanish nationality, 215,734 cases were through residence and 36,407 through option. The latter method was mainly used by people under the age of 20 (94.2% of all acquisitions through option were by people under the age of 20). The most common country of birth for those acquiring Spanish nationality was Spain, with 51,547 cases. Among those born outside Spain, the most common country of birth was Venezuela, with 34,343 acquisitions of nationality, followed by Colombia with 25,759, Morocco with 17,579 and Honduras with 14,407.
Of the 252,476 people residing in Spain who acquired Spanish nationality in 2024, 19.6% had always resided in Spain. The remaining 80.4% had previously resided abroad. Since 2002, the most common year of arrival for people who acquired Spanish nationality in 2024 was 2019. This means that it took them around five years to acquire Spanish nationality.
Catalonia with 68,755 cases and the Community of Madrid with 48,288 accounted for 46.4% of Spanish nationality acquisitions in 2024, followed by the Valencian Community with 26,729 and Andalusia with 23,157, the Basque Country with 13,600, the Canary Islands 10,307, Murcia 1,738, the Balearic Islands 9,366, Aragon 8,340, Castile-La Mancha 8,061, Castile and Leon 6,682, Galicia 6,667 and Navarre 4,411. Extremadura (1,459), La Rioja (1,729), Cantabria (1,789) and Asturias (2,550) were the autonomous communities with the lowest number of acquisitions of nationality among their residents.