Stateless children are born into a world in which they will face a lifetime of discrimination; their status profoundly affects their ability to learn and grow, and to fulfil their ambitions and dreams for the future.

With a stateless child being born somewhere in the world at least every 10 minutes, this is a problem that is growing. In countries hosting the 20 largest stateless populations, at least 70,000 stateless children are born each year.The effects of being born stateless are severe. In more than 30 countries, children need nationality documentation to receive medical care. In at least 20 countries, stateless children cannot be legally vaccinated. 

 

This report aims to go beyond these statistics, providing direct testimony of children and young people and how being stateless affects them. In July and August 2015, UNHCR spoke with more than 250 children and their parents and guardians, in seven countries around the world about their experiences of childhood statelessness. This is the first geographically diverse survey of the views of stateless children and youth. Many of the children and young people had never spoken to anyone about what it was like to be stateless.

 

The report highlights how not being recognised as a national of any country can create insurmountable barriers to education and adequate health care and stifle job prospects. It reveals the devastating psychological toll of statelessness and its serious ramifications not only for young people, whose whole futures are before them, but also for their families, communities and countries. It powerfully demonstrates the urgency of ending and preventing childhood statelessness.