Albanian children, implying those younger than 15, ranked second for first residence permits in the European Union during 2020.

According to figures from last year, at least 3 children in 100,000 inhabitants became lawful residents of an EU member country.

Eurostat reported 9,173 Albanian children, aged less than 15, received their first residence permits in 2020.

18.8% of permits were issued for Ukrainian children, followed by Albanians 18%.

“In 2020, 210 958 first residence permits for family reasons were issued in the EU to non-EU children aged less than 15. Of those children 61% were aged less than 5 years old”, the report read.

Children from Morocco, Syria, Pakistan, and India were the main beneficiaries of EU-issued permits.

The five main countries to have issued permits for family reasons, were Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Belgium.