Citizenship grants
Number of people granted British citizenship through naturalisation or registration.
236.2m
-12.4% vs 2024
As of 2025
Historical trend
Trend summary
The Home Office granted 231,597 British citizenships in 2023, a record high.
Trend
- Citizenship grants rose sharply from around 100,000 in 2019 to a record 231,597 in 2023.
- The rise reflects both a growing population of eligible long-term residents and a post-pandemic processing backlog being cleared.
- EU citizens account for a rising share of grants following the end of free movement.
Context
- Home Office publishes citizenship statistics annually; they cover naturalisations and registrations combined.
- Eligibility requirements differ for naturalisation (typically 5 years residence) and registration (various routes including children born in the UK).
Commentary contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
About this indicator
- Source
- Home Office
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Last updated
- 22 June 2026
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Direction
- ↓ Falling
Statistics
- Latest
- 236.2m
- Period high
- 269.8m
- Period low
- 236.2m
- Period average
- 253.0m