Chapter 6 Citizenship acquisitions and policy improvements during 2024 In 2024, 47,200 stateless people or people of undetermined nationality acquired citizenship or had their nationality confirmed, respectively, in 32 countries. This represents a 47 per cent increase compared to 2023. Notably, during the past year, 19,900 people of undetermined nationality were issued nationality certificates in South Sudan, while formerly stateless people in Viet Nam (6,200) and Thailand (5,700) received citizenship in these countries. Figure 23 | Number of stateless people acquiring citizenship | 2014 - 2024 Number of people 75K 50K 25K 0 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 In 2024, several countries took important steps to resolve and prevent statelessness. In Thailand, the Government approved a resolution to accelerate pathways to permanent residency and nationality for nearly half a million registered stateless people. Once the resolution is implemented, it will bring relief to longtime residents and members of officially recognized minority ethnic groups and their children who were born in Thailand, who account for the vast majority of the more than 612,500 stateless people in Thailand.190 During the year, Sao Tome and Principe and South Sudan acceded to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.191 Acceding to both UN Statelessness Conventions is a 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 key step towards improving national legal and policy frameworks on statelessness. In addition, following the naturalization of a final group of 1,100 stateless people in September 2024, Turkmenistan announced that all known statelessness cases within its territory have been resolved.192 In Kenya, UNHCR worked with the parliamentary counsel on proposed amendments to the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act to address statelessness, while over 2,400 stateless Rundi and individuals of Rwandan descent were registered to support evidence-based data for advocacy and planning for solutions for these groups. In Iraq, the Government issued a directive simplifying the nationality confirmation for Faili Kurds, removing 190 The total statelessness figure includes 589,800 stateless persons reported by the Royal Thai Government and registered with the national civil registration system by the end of 2024. 191 See UNHCR welcomes South Sudan’s accession to two statelessness conventions, UNHCR. 192 See UNHCR applauds Turkmenistan in resolving statelessness, UNHCR. 60 UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2024