on the basis of family reunification. This figure peaked in 2015, when 888 residence permits (or 47 percent of all permits) were granted on the ground of family reunification, while the relative importance of the other categories declined accordingly. In 2017, 40.5 percent of residence permits (202 permits) were granted to stateless persons on the grounds of family reunification, exceeding the number of residence permits granted on the basis of asylum (185 percent or 37.1 percent) for the first time since 2010. The third observation is that in general, the distribution of residence permits granted to stateless persons differs substantially from the distribution of permits for all applicants. Between 2011 and 2017, in average 49.2 percent of all residence permits were granted each year in the form of EU residence certificates, while approximately 18 to 20 percent were granted on the grounds of either work or education. These three categories combined made up less than 6 percent of the residence permits granted to stateless persons during the same period of time, with the exception of 2011 when 9.2 percent of stateless persons acquired residence permits on the above-mentioned grounds. Looking at stateless applicants, the vast majority of residence permits have been given to asylum-seekers (64.2 percent on average), a group that constituted only a minor fraction (7 percent on average) of the total number of residence permits granted to all applicants within the same period of time. Figure 13 provides quarterly statistics on the number of residence permits granted to stateless and all other asylumseekers in the period of the first quarter of 2010 until the fourth quarter of 2017. Again, the increase in residence permits granted to stateless asylum-seekers should be seen in the context of a general rise in asylum-seekers, in particular stateless persons from Syria.81 As indicated by the blue bars in the graph, the number of residence permits granted to asylum-seekers who are not stateless rose significantly throughout the period until the figure turned into a steady decrease from the 2nd quarter of 2016 onwards. The peak periods when the highest amount of residence permits have been granted to stateless asylum-seekers seemingly follow the general trend with the highest peaks reached in the fourth quarter of 2013 (16.8 percent or 291 permits) and the first quarter of 2015 (11 percent or 394 permits) after which the percentage of residence permits granted quarterly to stateless asylumseekers have been between 5.5 and 9.4 percent. Residence permits granted Figure 13: Residence permits granted to stateless asylum-seekers (quarterly figures 2010-2017) 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 2010Q1 2010Q2 2010Q3 2010Q4 2011Q1 2011Q2 2011Q3 2011Q4 2012Q1 2012Q2 2012Q3 2012Q4 2013Q1 2013Q2 2013Q3 2013Q4 2014Q1 2014Q2 2014Q3 2014Q4 2015Q1 2015Q2 2015Q3 2015Q4 2016Q1 2016Q2 2016Q3 2016Q4 2017Q1 2017Q2 2017Q3 2017Q4 0% ■ All asylum seekers exc. stateless ■ Stateless asylum seekers Source: SD (Residence permits (quarterly by each year) by citizenship (VAN 77) 2010-2017) 81 28 Personal communication with the Danish Immigration Service (email dated 9 March 2015). Mapping Statelessness in Denmark