Statelessness in numbers: 2019 An overview and analysis of global statistics July 2019 This note offers an overview and analysis of global statelessness statistics for the end of 2018, as published in June 2019 in UNHCR’s 2018 Global Trends Report. Complete country-by-country data on persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate is found in “Table 7”.1 A technical note and glossary is provided at the end. Summary of key findings The tally for the number of states reporting quantitative data on statelessness has increased to 78 – the highest since UNHCR began to collate and publish such data in 2004, but far below milestones set for improved statistical reporting under the #iBelong campaign. A total of 3.9 million people are stateless across the 78 states that report statistics. 22 states are marked with an asterisk, indicating that there is a known stateless population but no reliable data. These include the Dominican Republic and Zimbabwe which previously reported figures and featured at that time in the list of the ten states with the largest number of stateless people. Data collection is reported to be ongoing in these and some other “asterisk countries”, but the problem of unavailability of data on several large-scale situations of statelessness is a persistent one. There is also no information on the nearly 100 remaining states for which there is neither a figure nor an asterisk. In view of the data gaps, UNHCR recognises that the “true global figure” is significantly higher than 3.9 million. Unlike in previous years, however, this Global Trends report does not give a more specific estimate for the total global stateless population than that it is in the millions. Based on the wider global statistical picture, assessed in detail in 2014, and the lack of evidence of developments in the intervening period that would significantly alter that picture, ISI estimates that at least 15 million people remain stateless around the world. ISI’s estimate of the global stateless population includes stateless refugees, as well as stateless Palestinians, who are not included within UNHCR’s statistical reporting methodology on statelessness – with the exception of Rohingya IDPs in Myanmar and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In this note, ISI suggests adjusting the statistical reporting methodology on statelessness to provide greater transparency on statelessness and displacement, specifically by presenting data for all other stateless people who also have “another reportable status” under UNHCR’s mandate in the same manner as for these Rohingya populations. A total of 56,400 stateless people in 24 countries acquired nationality during 2017. However, this figure is again below the estimated number of children who are born into statelessness each year (at least 70,000), reaffirming that structural change to prevent intergenerational statelessness is needed for meaningful reduction to happen. Moreover, the task of addressing statelessness not only encompasses identifying and assisting individuals or groups who are already without a nationality, it includes efforts to predict, pre-empt and prevent statelessness from arising. Statelessness “hotspots”, where the issue is considered to be of urgent concern, will not always be visible in global statistics, because these only cover populations that are stateless during the reporting period and not (also) populations that are at risk. Painting a global picture of statelessness and understanding what forms of engagement are needed where, is therefore necessarily a task that will only ever be partly informed by global statelessness statistics. 1 Unless indicated otherwise, all data reported in this note is drawn directly from the 2018 Global Trends report and its accompanying Table 7. 1