of procedures, avoid delay, and reduce fees; and ensure that offenses, when relevant to the acquisition of nationality, not unreasonably prevent stateless persons from acquiring nationality.309 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 included in figure 20. Figure 20: Stateless persons obtaining Danish nationality (2006-2017) 2006 2007 2008 2009 Stateless persons 463 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 246 248 128 50 163 149 415 274 3,671 1,863 4,786 4,498 15,028 7,272 4% 2.7% 3.4% 3.3% 2.8% 3.8% 161 69 126 All persons 7,961 4,150 6111 6,869 3,833 4,467 Share of stateless in total 2% 1.7% 2% 6.7% 6.4% 5.5% Source: SD (People, who changes into Danish citizenship by sex, age and former citizenship (DKSTAT) recorded ultimo 2006-2017) Figure 20 indicates that between 50 and 463 stateless persons were granted Danish nationality each year in the period 2006-2017. In most years, less than 250 stateless persons were naturalized, while the number was only 69 persons in 2007 and 50 persons in 2013.310 The number of naturalized stateless persons increased dramatically in 2009 when 6.7 percent of all naturalized persons in Denmark were formerly stateless. When comparing the numbers of stateless persons to the total number of foreign nationals who naturalized, there is likewise a slight increase in the percentage of stateless persons obtaining Danish nationality in 2009 and onwards. In the period 2006-2008, the percentage was around 1-2 per cent, while during the period between 2009 and 2011 the figure increased to encompass between 5-7 per cent of the total number of grants of nationality to foreigners. Since 2012, the percentage has again decreased. In 2017, the share of stateless persons was 3.8 percent of all naturalized persons. An increase in numbers of naturalized stateless persons in 2009 cannot be explained as an effect of the so-called ‘statelessness case’ (see Section 2.1.1). The latter 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 Nationality Division of the Ministry of Justice311 has shared their impression that many applicants were informed about Danish born stateless persons’ entitlement to nationality from other applicants, and that the information was passed by word-of-mouth.312 The increased number of naturalizations in 2016 is reflected in the increase in the number of naturalized stateless persons in 2016.313 74 309 Council of Europe, Committee of Ministers, Recommendations No. R (99) 18 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the avoidance and reduction of statelessness (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 September 1999 at the 679th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies), available at: http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/510101e02.pdf. 310 In 2007, as a consequence of the general election, only one Naturalisation Bill was adopted; consequently, in 2008, three Naturalisation Bills were adopted, see Eva Ersbøll: On trial in Denmark, in Ricky van Oers, Eva Ersbøll and Dora Kostakopoulou: Are-definition of Belonging, Language and Integration Tests in Europe (2010), p. 140. 311 As of 28 November 2016 the Nationality Division is part of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration. 312 The theory was explained during an interview on 29 August 2012 with the Nationality Division. 313 In 2015, only one naturalization bill was adopted, since the bill presented in Parliament 2015 was annulled due to a parliamentary election this year; consequently, the following year, three naturalization bills were adopted by Parliament. Mapping Statelessness in Denmark