the person. Such “particular reasons” are typically situations when the residence permit application is only considered a formality, with a high likelihood of it being granted. For example, children whose parents already reside in Sweden and who come to Sweden to reunite with their parents, as well as foreign children adopted in Sweden, can be registered before the residence permit has been granted. Registration of children is provided for in Section 2 of the Population Registration Act. A child who is born alive in Sweden shall be registered in the Population Register if the child’s mother is registered, or if the father is registered and is the legal guardian of the child. In practice, this means that the parents need to be married in order for a child born to a registered father but an unregistered mother to be registered in the Population Register.53 However, even if a new-born child’s parents are not registered in the Population Register, for example because they are asylum-seekers who have not yet been granted a residence permit, there is an obligation to notify the Swedish Tax Agency of the birth of a child.54 If the child is born in a hospital, the hospital is responsible for the notification. If the child is not born in a hospital, the parent or legal guardian of the child is responsible for the notification within one month of the birth. In such cases, when the parents of a child are not registered in the Population Register, the birth is recorded in the diary of the Population Register with details of the child’s date of birth, sex, name, place of birth, the name of the mother and her nationality and, if the parents are married, the name of the father and, if known, his nationality.55 As the birth of such a child is recorded but not registered in the actual Population Register, the information sent to the Swedish Tax Agency is not verified, but recorded as provided by the hospital or parent(s). Also, no assessment of the new-born child’s nationality is undertaken at this point (though the mother’s nationality, and, if available, the father’s, is recorded). The Swedish Tax Agency has a possibility to print out an abstract from the diary as a confirmation of birth when required.56 Statistics Sweden is an administrative agency which is tasked to supply customers with statistics for decision making, debate and research, including based on data contained in the Population Register. The statistics in this report concerning persons registered as “stateless”, as having “unknown” nationality or as having their nationality “under investigation” in the Population Register have been obtained from Statistics Sweden. The Register of the SMA is regulated by the Aliens Data Act and the Aliens Data Decree.57 According to its Sections 1 and 4, the Aliens Data Act applies to the automated handling of personal information by the SMA, the National Police Board, the Police, and by Swedish authorities abroad, in activities undertaken pursuant to the aliens and citizenship legislation. According to Section 2 of the Aliens Data Act, such activities encompass actions concerning an alien’s stay in and removal from the country, an alien’s right to work in Sweden, the reception of asylum-seekers, and other specific activities which relate to the assistance and support to aliens handled by the SMA. The Aliens Data Act contains safeguards for the protection of the privacy of aliens, but does not limit the types of information that the authorities encompassed by the Act may gather about an individual alien. An authority can collect and handle information that is necessary for the authority to carry out its duties pursuant to the aliens and citizenship legislation.58 According to section 18 53 Email from the Swedish Tax Agency, 17 October 2016. 54 Section 1, paragraph 2 of the Population Registration Act provides that marriages, births and deaths shall be registered even if the person in question is not, or has not been registered. 55 Email from the Swedish Tax Agency, 17 October 2016. 56 Email from the Swedish Tax Agency, 4 October 2012. 57 Utlänningsdatalag (2016: 27), available at: https://goo.gl/yYGavg and Utlänningsdataförodningen (2016:30), available at: https://goo.gl/EdI0f0. 58 In this regard, the authority is also subjected to the regulation in Section 9 of the Swedish Personal Data Act, which regulates what personal information may be collected and how it may be used by authorities; see Personuppgiftslag (1998:204), available at: https://goo.gl/7XCg4t. 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