Over 27,000 Syrian refugees naturalised in Sweden in 2021

More than 27,000 Syrian refugees were made Swedish citizens in 2021, according to the country’s migration agency on Friday.

Some 85,000 people in total were granted citizenship, including 27,340 Syrians, 4,067 Somalis and 3,471 Eritreans, the agency said.

According to Swedish law, immigrants with a residence and a work permit can be naturalised within five years.

The agency added that the number of Syrians in Sweden obtaining both permits increased to about 150,000 since 2015, when Europe began witnessing a mass influx of refugees from the Middle East, other parts of Asia and Africa.  

Syria's 10-year conflict triggered the world’s worst refugee crisis since the second World War, killed at least half a million and left most of the country in ruins.