Under legislation passed last year, an estimated 500,000 children and grandchildren of civil war-era exiles are eligible for Spanish citizenship before 2011, BBC reported Saturday.

More than half of those eligible are in Argentina alone, officials say.

An estimated 500,000 people died in the civil war, which lasted from 1936 to 1939. Fascist Gen. Francisco Franco ascended to power following the war.

Spain began a transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975.