which the “old demons of Ivoirité”46 resurfaced, foreshadowing the eruption of post-election violence when Gbagbo failed to concede the election victory to his run-off rival, Ouattara.47 2.3. Contemporary stabilization of Côte d’Ivoire’s migrant and foreign populations As anti-foreigner hostility grew under Ivoirité, so did the frequency and intensity of violent inter-communitarian conflicts throughout Côte d’Ivoire specifically targeting foreigners, or those perceived to be foreigners.48 During this period in the 1990s, some foreigners, as well as children of foreigners born in Côte d’Ivoire left Côte d’Ivoire to return to the countries of their origins or ancestors. The outbreak of civil war in 2002 led to a further exodus. Côte d’Ivoire registered its first negative net rate of migration (per thousand) between 2005 and 2010 at -3.7.49 Looking forward, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) projects that the influx of migrants to Côte d’Ivoire will grow smaller, given the population pressure on arable land and the stagnation in Côte d’Ivoire’s plantation economy. Nevertheless, IOM also projects that the overall size of the immigrant population will remain high as a result of the permanent installation of many migrants into Ivorian society,50 combined with limited practical avenues for foreigners to acquire Ivorian nationality. According to Côte d’Ivoire’s 2014 census, 5,490,222 of the total population of 22,671,331 are non-Ivorian – or 24.2%.51 Although complete disaggregated data of the 2014 census is not yet publicly available, the Ivorian National Statistics Institute (Institut National de la Statistique, or INS) has released striking results, which confirm that for the first time in Côte d’Ivoire’s history, well over half of the “foreign” population was born in Côte d’Ivoire. The below table, drawn from the published main findings of the 2014 census,52 demonstrates how the percentage of the foreign population in Côte d’Ivoire who were born in the country has essentially doubled in the past four decades: Indicator Percentage of total population identified as “foreign” Percentage of “foreign” population born in Côte d’Ivoire 1975 Census 22.1% 1988 Census 28.1% 1998 Census 26% 2014 Census 24.2% 30% 42.7% 47% 59% This remarkable statistic – that 59% of the contemporary foreign population in Côte d’Ivoire was born in the country – should give rise to serious reflection on the practical effects of Côte d’Ivoire’s restrictive nationality system. What does this say about Côte d’Ivoire’s decision to marginalize, rather than integrate, one of its most important resources for development? And what are the implications of the heightened dangers of people falling through the cracks of multiple 46 Alfred Babo, Les Usages Politiques de la Nationalité et Ses Risques Pour la Société Ivoirienne, in Conditions Pour la Consolidation de la Paix en Côte d’Ivoire, p. 90, Rafael Grasa (Ed.), Barcelona: Institut Català Internacional per la Pau, 2014, pp. 89-108. 47 Post-election violence was marked by the targeting and stereotyping of political opponents based on ethnic and religious grounds. Amnesty International, They looked at his Identity Card and Shot him Dead: Six Months of Post-Electoral Violence in Côte d’Ivoire, AFR 31/002/2011, 2011. 48 Dembele, supra note 24. 49 Konan, supra note 29. The United Nations has estimated that the net migration rate (per thousand) for Côte d’Ivoire in 2015 was 0.5, close to no immigration into Côte d’Ivoire. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division, supra note 18. 50 Id. 51 INS, supra note 1, p. 2. 52 INS, supra note 2. 13