More than 16,000 nationals of the United Kingdom obtained EU citizenship in 2018. The figure is more than six times higher than that of 2015, which is the year before the UK voted for Brexit, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.

According to statistics released by the European Commission’s Eurostat last week, 16,193 British nationals obtained EU (European Union) citizenship in 2018. Most of them (59%) received either a French or German passport.

According to the report, out of the total number of successful naturalization applications in 2018, citizens of Morocco made up 10% (67,200 out of more than 672,000). They were followed by citizens of Albania and Turkey, with 47,000 and 27,000 applications respectively. The UK was seventh down the line.

The Eurostat report published on March 30, 2020 reads:

“The largest group acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State where they lived in 2018 was citizens of Morocco (67 200 persons, of whom 84% acquired citizenship of Spain, Italy or France), ahead of citizens of Albania (47 400, 97% acquired citizenship of Greece or Italy), Turkey (28 400, 59% acquired German citizenship), Brazil (23 100, 76% acquired citizenship of Italy or Portugal), Romania (21 500, 51% acquired citizenship of Italy or Germany), Algeria (18 400, 81% acquired French citizenship), the United Kingdom (16 200, 59% acquired citizenship of Germany or France), Syria (16 000, 66% acquired citizenship of Sweden), Russia (15 800, 31% acquired German citizenship) and Ukraine (15 400, 55% acquired citizenship of Germany, Poland or Italy).”

The number of Brits who have obtained EU citizenship has increased sharply since the country voted to leave the EU in 2016. That year, more than 6,600 British citizens received an EU passport, followed by 15,054 in 2017. In comparison, between 2013 – 2015 the number of British nationals who received another EU citizenship was 2,400 on average.

Following a turbulent path since the 2016 Brexit referendum, the UK finally left the EU on January 31 2020.