5. Concluding remarks and recommendations Awareness of statelessness as a distinct human rights issue, which has consequences for the individuals concerned, and for States like Sweden which are Parties to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions, is generally low among government authorities, NGOs, and the public at large. There is a corresponding lack of research on the situation of stateless persons in Sweden, as well as a lack of targeted assistance aimed at this group. Although Sweden has been a State Party to the 1954 Convention since 1965, numerous provisions in the Convention have not been transformed into the Swedish legislation, or applied in practice. Similarly, the national legislation has not been fully aligned with the standards set out in the 1961 Convention, to which Sweden has been a State Party since 1969. In addition, Sweden maintains several reservations to the 1954 Convention despite the commitment expressed at the Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons convened by UNHCR in December 2011, to address statelessness through foreign policy initiatives, and remove its reservations to the 1954 Convention. Individuals holding a residence permit in Sweden are registered by the Swedish Tax Agency in the Population Register, which inter alia holds information about the individual’s nationality status, including if he or she is stateless, or of “unknown” nationality, or if his or her nationality is “under investigation”. The SMA maintains a separate Register of individuals being processed pursuant to the national aliens or citizenship legislation, including persons seeking international protection or stay in Sweden on other grounds. While an individual’s nationality status, including his or her statelessness, is registered and publicly available in the Register of the SMA, there is no readily available information about the countries of birth or former habitual residence of persons registered as stateless, or as having “unknown” nationality or “under investigation” while undergoing these procedures. This limits the accessibility to comprehensive information concerning the origins and backgrounds of the persons registered in Sweden as stateless, as having “unknown” nationality or as having their nationality “under investigation” by the SMA. According to statistical information published by Statistics Sweden, the following number of individuals were registered in the Population Register as “stateless”, as having “unknown” nationality or as having their nationality “under investigation” at the end of 2015: nn 21,580 stateless persons; nn 5,523 persons with “unknown” nationality; and nn 119 with their nationality “under investigation”. Furthermore, the following number of asylum-seekers were registered in the Register of the SMA as stateless, or as having “unknown” nationality or nationality “under investigation” at the end of 2015: nn 7,771 stateless asylum-seekers; nn 317 asylum-seekers with “unknown” nationality; and nn 918 asylum-seekers with their nationality “under investigation”. In addition, 382 stateless persons and 165 persons with “unknown” nationality were awaiting return at the end of 2015. 74 M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N S W E D E N