proportion is extrapolated onto the total RAE population living in informal settlements in Serbia (56,276), the current number of persons 16+ who have no identity cards totals 1,032. Compared with 2015, this is a slight increase in the RAE population lacking identity cards, chiefly owing to the lack of funds in the RAE community. As such, the primary reason given for not having an identity card was that the procedure was too costly, followed by not having permanent residence registration. Other explanations included ignorance of the procedure, complicated procedures, and not having registered citizenship. One in twenty respondents felt having an identity card was unimportant. Figure 4.4.14. Proportion of individuals lacking a valid identity card in the RAE population aged 16+ , comparison of 2010, 2015, and 2020 findings (%) 94.8 88.3 11.7 93.4 5.2 2010 2015 With ID card 6.6 2020 Without ID card Migratory experience is a major factor for lack of identity cards. Only 2.7 percent of local RAE individuals lack identity cards, in sharp contrast to the RAE population that fled Kosovo after 1999, wherein the figure is as high as 24.1 percent, or to those who left Kosovo before 1998, where it is 12 percent. At 17 percent, this proportion is also significant amongst RAE individuals who fled other former Yugoslav republics between 1991 and 1997. By way of a comparison, in 2015, 15 percent of persons displaced from Kosovo after 1999 lacked identity cards, as did 10 percent of returnees from Western Europe (where the figure has now decreased slightly to 7.4 percent). PERSONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN SERBIA OVERVIEW OF CURRENT SITUATION AND THE WAY FORWARD 31