European countries issued a total of 3.4 million residence permits in 2022, with Poland holding the highest number of permits issued during the year. However, in terms of population, Malta has issued the highest number of permits, according to Schengen statistics.
With a population of 535,064, 37,851 residence permits have been issued, with a rate of grants per 10,000 people of around 707 – the highest in Europe, while Cyprus comes second with 308 residence permits issued per 10,000 inhabitants and a total plus 38,851 licenses issued by a third country. nation.
However, because the populations of Malta and Cyprus are significantly smaller than those of other countries, the number of residence permits issued is higher in these two countries.
On the other hand, among countries with higher populations and larger territories, Poland has the highest number of residence permits issued per 10,000 people – about 170, while a total of 700,264 were issued in 2022. Besart Bajrami, founder of SchengenVisaInfo.com, points out that due to the low population ratio in Cyprus and Malta, the number of residence permits issued may be uneven.
The second country to follow is Ireland, with 85,793 residence permits issued, indicating around 169 permits issued per 10,000 people.
The countries with the highest number of residence permits issued per capita according to the list are Slovenia, Luxembourg and Portugal, with the number of permits issued being around 154 and 106 per 10,000 people.
Additionally, 100 people per capita were granted residence permits in Lithuania in 2022, accounting for a total of 27,380 permits issued while Lithuania's population was approximately 2.7 million.
The other three countries with the highest number of residence permits issued per capita are Spain, Finland and Sweden, with between 96 and 79 permits per 10,000 inhabitants. In total, these three countries issued 591,974 residence permits in 2022, with the highest number recorded in Finland (457,412), while Spain and Sweden issued between 50,000 and 85,000.
The countries granting the fewest residence permits per capita in 2022 are Norway, with one residence permit the total number of permits issued reaches 902. The second and third countries granting the fewest permits The top residents per capita last year were Romania and Bulgaria, with 21 and 23 permits issued respectively.
Overall, the countries with the highest number of residence permits issued in 2022 are Poland, Germany and Spain, while at the other end of the scale are countries such as Norway, l Estonia and Latvia, with less than 10,000 residence permits issued.