CHAPTER 3 Number of countries Figure 12 | Number of countries reporting statistics on naturalized refugees | 1997-2016 32 28 24 20 16 12 8 4 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 07 Given the complex issues involved in local integration, measuring and quantifying its success is challenging. Legally, the culmination of this process is usually reflected in obtaining durable legal status and, in some cases, naturalization in the country of asylum. Naturalization – the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country – is used as a measure of local integration. However, even this crude proxy is limited by uneven availability of data and poor coverage as well as policy and legal changes over time. In particular, it can be difficult to distinguish between the naturalization of refugees and non-refugees. Therefore, the data are only indicative at best and provide an underestimate of the extent to which refugees are naturalized. 28 06 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 During 2016, 23 countries reported at least one naturalization of a refugee, compared with 28 the previous year (Figure 12). A total of 23,000 refugee naturalizations were reported to UNHCR in 2016, compared with 32,000 the previous year. Canada reported the largest such number, with 16,300 naturalizations, although this was considerably lower than the 25,900 naturalizations it reported in 2015. Other countries that reported significant numbers of naturalizations of refugees in 2016 were France (3,200), Belgium (1,400), and Austria (1,200). UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016