Other 28 705 Spain is a country where those born on the territory who would otherwise be stateless acquire Spanish nationality at birth. The statistics suggest that it should be possible to identify whether those recognised as stateless in Spain include refugee children, and if so to investigate why. Information from Proyecto Ödos suggests that there is a particular problem with births on route to Spain in cases of migrant children whose parents are able to approach their embassy, but whose embassies will not register the birth. This points to an issue highlighted by much of the other evidence: the need to distinguish refugee families, who have good reason not to approach their national embassy, from others who can do so. This in turn raises the particular problem of people with pending claims for international protection, which may take a long time to determine, during which period the question of whether, ultimately, they will be able to approach their embassy is unresolved. In the case of Belgium, in mid-2019, the UN update on budgets and funding records 61,677 refugees and 10,933 stateless persons in Belgium. Statistics on newly arrived asylumseekers in Belgium in 2019, report: Belgium Syria 2 730 Palestine 2 320 Afghanistan 2 245 El Salvador 1 365 Eritrea 1 155 Other 13 290 Given the nationalities represented, it is clear that stateless people in Belgium include asylum-seekers (e.g. Palestinians) and it is reasonable to infer, given the nationalities, that other asylum applicants are likely to be affected by statelessness. Younger children are likely to be dependants rather than applicants in their own right. Belgium grants nationality automatically at birth to children who would otherwise be stateless born on its territory. Information from the Statelessness Index suggests that safeguards exist.2 Therefore, an important line of enquiry, when a potentially stateless child living in Belgium is identified, is where that child was born. 2 Article 10(2) Belgian Nationality Law; judgment of the Constitutional Court in l’ASBL (Défense des Enfants International - Belgique - Branche francophone (D.E.I. Belgique)) case 73/2008, of 17 December 2008; Circulaire relative aux modifications du Code de la nationalité belge introduites par la loi du 27 décembre 2006 portant des dispositions diverses of 25 May 2007. 7