    2022 Global Trends Report, ‘[a]bout 1.3 million stateless people worldwide are also displaced’,11 meaning only about 30 per cent of the known stateless global population of 4.4 million is displaced. The geographical scope of research and action on statelessness has also expanded significantly. While statelessness remains a global phenomenon, the data also reveals that it is a global issue with an Asian epicentre. Of the current known stateless population worldwide, the UNHCR estimates that about 56 per cent lives in the Asia-Pacific region.12 In its 2022 Global Trends Report, the UNHCR notes that ‘most stateless people continued to be reported in Bangladesh (952,300), Côte d’Ivoire (931,100), Myanmar (630,000) and Thailand (574,200)’, notably with Côte d’Ivoire being the only country mentioned that is not located in the Asian region.13 This book is a scholarly intervention at the intersection of a growing literature on statelessness, focusing on statelessness as a phenomenon beyond forced migration and as situated within the Asian region. We conceptualize statelessness as a legal status with significant social, political, and economic impact. This highlights that being stateless is more than just a legal disability; it is a legal disability with widespread ramifications on the whole life of the stateless person. Those who are stateless, or otherwise find themselves without a recognized legal identity, not only lack political rights but face daily obstructions from lack of access to a range of social and economic resources, with significant adverse impact on their living conditions. In addition, we examine the intersection of statelessness with systems of inequality based on ethnicity, religion, or gender. For instance, according to UNHCR estimates, more than 75 per cent of the world’s known stateless persons belong to minority groups.14 This overlap wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/04/CH-UNHCR_Handbook-on-Protection-of-StatelessPersons.pdf>. 11 UNHCR, ‘2022 Global Trends Report’ (n 4) 5. 12 UNHCR, ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Trends: Forced Displacement and Statelessness’ (Report, Data, Identity Management and Analysis (DIMA) Unit July 2023) 28 <www .unhcr.org/asia/asia-pacific-regional-trends> accessed 13 September 2023 (‘2022 Asia and the Pacific Regional Trends Report’). As the report acknowledges, ‘the number of stateless people remains an underestimate as many countries do not report data on statelessness’. 13 UNHCR, ‘2022 Global Trends Report’ (n 4) 45. 14 UNHCR ‘“This is our Home” Stateless Minorities and Their Search for Citizenship’ (Statelessness Report 2017) 1 <www.unhcr.org/ibelong/stateless-minorities/> accessed 12 September 2023. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009399555.003 Published online by Cambridge University Press