T H E G L O B A L S TAT E O F C I T I Z E N S H I P 1.1 BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP AROUND THE WORLD: THE BIG PICTURE Type of bir thright citizenship principle (excl provisions for foundlings) | 191 countries | 2024 Birth in territory; descent only for birth abroad Descent and birth in territory 17% 33 26% Descent; birth in territory only if otherwise stateless 30% Only descent 27% 49 57 52 Share and number of countries with type of provision Source: GLOBALCIT Citizenship Law Dataset, v3, mode: A01a, A01b, A02, A03b What if a child is born abroad? All 191 countries included in our dataset apply descent-based birthright citizenship acquisition to children born abroad to a citizen parent. Whether a citizen can transmit their citizenship to their child born abroad, however, depends on additional criteria in just under half of the countries. requirement applies. This can be a significant obstacle to becoming a citizen, compared to those who have an automatic birthright to citizenship. A few countries further restrict citizenship abroad to cases where children are born to two citizen parents. This dual restriction applies in 21 countries, such as Bhutan or Croatia. In countries such as Uzbekistan or Vietnam, citizenship can only be passed down the generational line if the parents are citizens or stateless. In 20 countries, citizenship can only be transmitted abroad if the father is a citizen. We discuss these discriminatory provisions in section 3 of this report. In Cameroon, a child only receives citizenship if the parents are legally married. In four other countries, only the mother can transmit her citizenship if the child is born out of wedlock. Finally, citizenship transmission laws may discriminate against citizen parents on other grounds, such as the parents’ race or religion (2%). Sometimes people face multiple restrictions. For instance, a Brunei citizen father can only pass down his citizenship to a child born abroad if he was himself born in Brunei (or was born abroad to a father born in Brunei) and belongs to one of the specified indigenous groups of the Malay race. Uganda applies a list of ethnic groups to which the citizen parent or grandparent must belong. In Sierra Leone, the citizen parent needs to be ‘of negro African descent’ and in Liberia must be a ‘Negro or of Negro descent’. The most common restriction on transmitting citizenship to children born abroad applies to those whose citizen parents were also born abroad. In one-fifth of countries, parents born abroad cannot pass down their citizenship if their child is also born abroad, or they can only do so after residing for a certain period in their country of citizenship prior to the birth of the child. For example, in Australia, two years’ residence is required. In other countries, children whose parents were also born abroad can become citizens through descent as long as their grandparents were born in the country (the second generation born abroad). This is the case in Peru, where those children born abroad whose parents and grandparents were also born abroad (the third generation born abroad) can become citizens only by living in Peru and making a declaration upon reaching the age of majority. When citizenship acquisition is not automatic at birth, other criteria may also vary. For example, in the United Kingdom, a child born outside the UK automatically acquires British citizenship if the citizen parent was born in the UK. If the parent was also born abroad (and their parent was born in the UK) but has resided in the UK for three years while the child is a minor, the child is entitled to register as a British citizen. If the child is over 10 years old, a ‘good character’ 5