Chapter 3 pathways. 42 The study focuses on first-entry permits granted for family, study or work purposes in OECD countries to nationals from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia and Syria 43 from 2010 to 2017 [Figure 13]. Between 2010 and 2017, the combined total of submitted asylum applications in OECD countries of the five populations was more than 2.5 million, including 322,300 (13 per cent) on appeal following a negative decision at the first-instance. More than 1.5 million were granted either refugee status (890,000) or complementary forms of protection (633,000) during this period, and 566,900 first residence permits were granted to the five populations. Furthermore, 350,400 people from the five populations arrived in OECD countries through resettlement programmes from 2010 to 2017. Local integration One durable solution is the local integration of refugees. This is a complex and gradual process that involves refugees establishing themselves in a country of asylum and integrating into the community there. Separate but equally important legal, economic, social, and cultural aspects to local integration form part of the process, which over time should lead to permanent residence rights and, in many cases, the acquisition of citizenship in the country of asylum. Measuring and quantifying local integration in a way that is comparable and consistent across different contexts is challenging. The International Recommendations on Refugee Statistics make several recommendations on appropriate indicators, but data availability on the situation of refugees is still very poor. 44 Naturalization – the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country – is therefore used as a measure of local integration. However, even this proxy is limited by uneven availability of data and poor coverage as well as policy and legal changes over time. In particular, unhcr > Global trends 2018 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. In view of the current challenges with the availability of relevant statistics on naturalization, UNHCR will explore with governments opportunities to address these gaps. During 2018, a total of 62,600 refugee naturalizations were reported – lower than the 73,400 reported in 2017 – with 27 countries reporting at least one. Turkey reported the most naturalizations with 29,000 in 2018, all originating from Syria. Canada reported the second largest number, with 18,300, reversing that country’s decline in naturalizations since 2015 and substantially higher than the 10,500 reported in 2017. Canada naturalized refugees from 162 countries with the highest number from Iraq (2,800). The Netherlands also reported an increasing number of naturalizations with 7,900 compared with 6,600 in 2017. Other countries that reported significant numbers of naturalizations of refugees in 2018 were Guinea-Bissau (3,500) and France (3,300). ■ 42 See: www.unhcr.org/5c07a2c84. The findings will support the development of the three-year strategy envisaged by the Global Compact on Refugees to expand resettlement and complementary pathways. Data will be updated on a regular basis, with the report intended to be issued by UNHCR-OECD every two years. The next report will be completed in 2020, covering 2018-2019 data. 43 These nationalities were selected because they account for more than half of the world’s refugees under UNHCR’s mandate and have a high recognition rate for those applying for asylum in OECD countries. 44 See: ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/9315869/KSGQ-18-004-EN-N.pdf 33