Government estimate of individuals who themselves or whose parents or grandparents migrated to Côte d’Ivoire before or just after independence and who did not establish their nationality at independence or before the nationality law changed in 1972. The estimate is derived in part from the cases denied voter registration in 2010 because electoral authorities could not determine their nationality at the time.214 It is in everyone’s interests to candidly acknowledge that the figure of 700,000 persons who are stateless or of undetermined nationality is an estimate not backed by rigorous statistical analysis.215 How can a better statistical view of the statelessness phenomenon in Côte d’Ivoire be achieved? For one, population censuses and statistical profiling surveys can play a role in better analyzing the potential scope and scale of statelessness in the country. But these methodologies are not without pitfalls. Censuses and surveys rely on self-identification. Here, a person might think that he or she is of a particular nationality, but might not be considered as a national from the perspective of the State concerned. To address the challenge of deriving statelessness-related data from population censuses, UNHCR has recommended that “consideration should be given to inclusion of questions which permit cross-checking of data based on self-identification of citizenship.”216 In relation to statelessness in Côte d’Ivoire, relevant proxy questions could involve crosschecking some of the following variables:     What is the number of persons who self-identify as Ivorians and foreigners? What is the portion of those who identify themselves as foreigners who were born in Côte d’Ivoire versus their country of origin (whose nationality they claim)? What is the age distribution of this group? With respect to those identified as “non-Ivorians” born in Côte d’Ivoire: o How many were born to “foreign” parents also born in Côte d’Ivoire? o How many of them possess: birth certificates or jugements supplétifs; or some form of nationality documentation (such as a passport, nationality certificate, or national ID card from their stated country of origin, consular card, etc.)? o How long have they lived in Côte d’Ivoire? Do they have children? If so, are their children’s births registered? With respect to those who self-identify as Ivorians: o How many of them possess: a birth certificate or jugement supplétif, national ID card, a nationality certificate, or a passport? Côte d’Ivoire’s 1998 housing and population census did not contain relevant proxy questions, although it revealed the age distribution and high number of those who self-identified as foreigners who were born in Côte d’Ivoire. As for the 2014 census, respondents were asked (as in prior censuses) their date and place of birth and their nationality, but were also asked for the first time to state whether their births have been registered in accordance with civil status procedures (distinguishing between whether this was done within the legal three-month deadline or whether 214 UNHCR, supra note 3. Indeed since 2016, the Ministry of Justice refers to the 700,000 only as historic migrants thought to be at risk of statelessness, acknowledging that estimating the foundling population size is complex. This point has been confirmed by the Ministry of Justice via correspondence in December 2016. 216 UNHCR, Measuring Statelessness through Population Census. Note by the Secretariat of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 13 May 2008, ECE/CES/AC.6/2008/SP/5, para. 16. 215 58