10 most populous countries that have birthright citizenship: list
10. Chile
Chile, a Latin American nation with nearly 20 million people, guarantees birthright citizenship in Article 10 of its Constitution, which defines Chileans as anyone “born in Chilean territory, with the exception of the sons of foreigners who are in Chile in service of their government, and the sons of transient foreigners, all of which, however, may opt for the Chilean nationality.”
According to a 2021 piece published by The Global Citizenship Observatory, in recent decades, much of the policy debate in Chile has centered on the definition of “transient foreigners.”
“The lack of definition of the concept of transient foreigner at the constitutional and legal level has generated problems for the children of migrants in an irregular situation born in Chile,” explained GCO.
“On repeated occasions, based on legal actions promoted by legal clinics and civil society organizations, the Supreme Court had already ordered that the children of foreigners in an irregular situation born in Chile should be registered as Chileans.”
