Figure 17 indicates that since 2008, the number of stateless persons registered as in a return position has steadily rose from the number of 20 in 2008 to 96 persons recorded in 2016; however, in relation to the number of submitted asylum applications, increased recognition rate and the increase in residence permits granted to stateless persons within the same period of time, as illustrated in Figures 14 to 16 respectively, the percentage of stateless asylum seekers in a return position has proportionally decreased. Between 2008 and 2011, the majority of rejected stateless asylum applicants in return position were of Palestinian origins, but since the Danish Immigration Service discontinued the use of distinct categories of ‘Stateless Palestinians’ and ‘Other Stateless’ in 2011, it was not possible to make distinctions between the two groups from 2012 onwards. Statistics Denmark provides information on the number of foreigners, including stateless persons, who have obtained Danish nationality through naturalization each year in the period 2006-2017. They are shown in Figure 18. Figure 18: Stateless persons obtaining Danish nationality (2007-2017) 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 69 126 463 246 248 128 50 163 149 415 274 All persons 4,150 6,111 6,869 3,833 4,467 3,671 1,863 4,786 4,498 15,028 7,272 Share of stateless in total 1.7% 2% 6.7% 6.4% 5.5% 4% 2.7% 3.4% 3.3% 2.8% 3.8% Stateless persons Source: SD (People, who changes into Danish citizenship by sex, age and former citizenship (DKSTAT) recorded ultimo 2007-2017) 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Figure 18 indicates that between 50 and 463 stateless persons were granted Danish nationality each year in the period 2007-2017. When comparing the numbers of stateless persons to the total number of foreign nationals who naturalized, there is a decrease in the percentage of stateless persons obtaining Danish nationality since 2009 and onwards. In the period 2009-2011, the percentage was around six percent, while since 2012, it decreased to less than four percent of the total number of grants of nationality to foreigners. In 2017, 274 stateless persons obtained Danish nationality, which constitutes 3.8 percent of all naturalized persons. The high number of naturalized stateless persons in 2009 cannot be explained as an effect of the “statelessness case” (see Section 2.1.1). It may have caused a number of stateless persons to apply for naturalization but most likely only as of 2011 when the rights of Danish born stateless persons became publicly well known. The fact that the grants of nationality to stateless persons peaked already in 2009 may be explained as a coincidence. The 34 Mapping Statelessness in Denmark