Countries With Birthright Citizenship
Want to know how many countries have birthright citizenship?
The World Population Review says there are 75. A U.S. Library of Congress record dated in the early 2000s said there are 94 countries with birthright citizenship. This indicates that over time,
more countries have been abolishing (or at least restricting) birthright citizenship.
Unrestricted Birthright Citizenship
What countries have birthright citizenship?
Below is a list of
35 countries with unrestricted born-in-a-country citizenship, i.e., that unconditionally endow citizenship to anyone born in their jurisdiction.
Note that this list can change as more countries adopt more restrictive measures on their birthright citizenship laws.
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chad
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Fiji
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Lesotho
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Tanzania
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Note that
Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia all allow unrestricted birthright citizenship. Any children you give birth to in these Caribbean countries will be citizens, even if you yourself are not yet a citizen—e.g., still processing your citizenship by investment or naturalization application.
Birthright Citizenship With Conditions
What countries have birthright citizenship but with attached conditions? The following 40 countries offer conditional birthright citizenship.
- Australia
- Bahrain
- Belgium
- Cambodia
- Colombia
- Cyprus
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- India
- Iran
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Luxembourg
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Mongolia
- Morocco
- Namibia
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Portugal
- Sao Tome and Principe
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sudan
- Sweden
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Tunisia
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
Most of the above countries combine jus soli and jus sanguinis,
requiring blood relationships with citizens before automatically assigning birthright citizenship.