Sweden granted citizenship to just 98 people in July out of 2,825 citizenship cases concluded during the month, meaning approvals amounted to only around 3.5% of concluded cases.
In a dramatic reversal from previous trends, the majority of those granted Swedish citizenship were citizens of Finland, Norway and Denmark.
July was the first full month under Sweden’s new, significantly tougher citizenship rules, which came into force on June 6.
The reforms increase the standard residency requirement from 5 to 8 years and introduce requirements covering self-sufficiency, Swedish-language skills, knowledge of Swedish society and an orderly life.