Is birthright citizenship only in the US? This map shows the other countries that have it
A nearly 160-year-old constitutional right is under fire from the Trump administration, birthright citizenship. But is the US different from other nations?
President Trump issued an executive order ending birthright citizenship in the United States on his first day in office. After meeting with legal challenges, three lower federal courts blocked the move as unconstitutional, going against the 14th Amendment, which grants all babies born in the US automatic citizenship.
The White House asked the Supreme Court to step in, and the justices heard oral arguments this week. Trump’s lawyer challenged the ability of lower courts to impose a nationwide injunction, rather than argue whether the executive order was legal. A decision is expected by early summer.
But the issue at hand, should all babies born in the US be automatically granted US citizenship, has raised the question of whether the US is alone in having birthright citizenship.
Birthright citizenship around the world
There are two competing views of citizenship in the world today. One is inclusive and based on human rights called ‘jus soli‘, or ‘the law of the soil’. The other is exclusive called ‘jus sanguinis‘, or ‘the law of the blood’.
Jus soli, which is what the US practices, is also the law of the land in around 30 more countries, primarily in the Western Hemisphere but also in a handful of African countries along with Pakistan and Nepal. Jus sanguinis, is adhered to in most of Asia and several countries in Africa and Europe.
The International Monetary Fund notes that those developing countries that have jus soli are 80% richer than those the have jus sanguinis citizenship laws.
However, there are a growing number of countries that have a mix of the two. This is found primarily in Western European countries, swaths of Africa, as well as Iran and Afghanistan, Cambodia, Australia and New Zealand. Some of these began as one or the other but then adopted either more restrictive or inclusive laws toward how they grant citizenship to newborns.
In the case of the latter, Germany made it possible for foreigners residing in the country, and in particular their children who were born there, to acquire citizenship in 1999. Whereas the United Kingdom and several former colonies in Africa that had jus soli laws have implemented restrictions like requiring that one of the parents be a citizen and/or that one or both of the parents be a legal resident.
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