UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency · Stateless Persons by Country of Residence
Stateless people by country
How many people living in each country are recognised as a national by no state?
Of the 94 countries compared in 2025, Bangladesh had the highest reading, 1,177,962, and 3 countries shared the lowest reading, 5. In the middle country the figure was 1,314. Among the 55 countries measured in every edition since 2010, the middle one moved from 2,061 to 2,143.
Stateless people · 2025
Context statistic
Highest of 94Bangladesh
1,177,962012025 · values only
The highest and the lowest
The three countries with the highest values of 94 compared, the three with the lowest, and the highest on each continent. This statistic has no better end, so no country is shown as leading.
- 1
- 2
- 3
Highest on each continent
- AfricaCôte d’Ivoire930,958
- Americas
Canada10,288 - AsiaBangladesh1,177,962
- Europe
Latvia167,512 - Oceania
Australia8,1832 of 21 measured
- Every region
02Every measured country
Stateless people on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value. This statistic has no better end, so the shades describe size, not success.
- 5–100
- 102–517
- 526–3,057
- 3,199–16,000
- 20,863–1,177,962
- No reading in 2025 (10 measured in an earlier edition)
- Africa
10,284
the middle country, of 9 measured · 55 members
Côte d’Ivoire930,958
Egypt5Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Europe
1,504
the middle country, of 39 measured · 49 members
Latvia167,512
Bosnia and Herzegovina25Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Asia
1,155
the middle country, of 34 measured · 52 members
Bangladesh1,177,962
Jordan13Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
29
the middle country, of 10 measured · 48 members
Canada10,2882 share 5
Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Oceania
2 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia8,183
New Zealand29Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
17 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- South-eastern Asia
25,177
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Thailand610,791
Philippines55Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Eastern Africa
10,284
the middle country, of 5 measured · 19 members
South Sudan60,600
Burundi734Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Northern Europe
3,512
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Latvia167,512
Iceland33Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
3,057
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Germany28,315
Luxembourg102Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Europe
1,011
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Russia87,826
Hungary63Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
554
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Spain11,580Bosnia and Herzegovina25Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Southern Asia
475
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Bangladesh1,177,962
Pakistan60Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Asia
464
the middle country, of 13 measured · 19 members
Syria160,000Jordan13Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
20
the middle country, of 6 measured · 12 members
Chile1,6942 share 5
Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia8,183New Zealand29Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Central America
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama.
Panama942
Mexico13Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Central Asia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan16,000
Kyrgyzstan526Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Japan, Mongolia, South Korea.
Japan534
Mongolia100Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Northern Africa
1 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt.
Egypt5Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada.
Canada10,288Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Southern Africa
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Namibia.
Namibia14,796Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Western Africa
2 of 16 measured — too few for a middle: Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire.
Côte d’Ivoire930,958
Cabo Verde115Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
94 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 1,314; a quarter are above 10,163, and a quarter below 186. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
Log scale: each gridline is ten times the one before, so countries of very different sizes can be seen on one line.
04All 104 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. Neither end of this table is better, and only countries with a reported figure are listed. UNHCR says reliable estimates do not exist for much of the world, so a country missing from the table may have many stateless residents whom nobody counted. A large figure can mean a country made people stateless or that it hosts people made stateless elsewhere, and it overlaps UNHCR's refugee counts.
Showing 25 of 104 countries
Values for 2025. The change column compares 2025 with 2024 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052010–2025 · 16 editions
Over time
Each point is one end-of-year count, as UNHCR's database currently holds it. Jumps can come from counting rather than from events: UNHCR began including stateless people who are also refugees or displaced in 2017, and a country that starts or stops reporting moves the line.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 55 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 94 | 1,314 | 186 – 10,163 | 2,143 |
| 2024 | 95 | 1,267 | 145 – 9,982 | 2,236 |
| 2023 | 91 | 1,611 | 126 – 9,079 | 2,974 |
| 2022 | 90 | 2,189 | 211 – 11,298 | 3,410 |
| 2021 | 91 | 2,669 | 152 – 10,822 | 3,556 |
| 2020 | 87 | 1,532 | 171 – 10,828 | 3,405 |
| 2019 | 84 | 1,951 | 140 – 16,312 | 3,500 |
| 2018 | 77 | 1,951 | 144 – 10,825 | 2,759 |
| 2017 | 75 | 1,951 | 142 – 10,663 | 2,749 |
| 2016 | 72 | 2,318 | 182 – 10,948 | 2,671 |
| 2015 | 74 | 2,494 | 209 – 12,349 | 2,873 |
| 2014 | 71 | 1,997 | 205 – 12,025 | 2,293 |
| 2013 | 67 | 2,029 | 324 – 11,567 | 2,122 |
| 2012 | 67 | 2,300 | 234 – 10,211 | 2,886 |
| 2011 | 62 | 1,873 | 223 – 10,836 | 2,073 |
| 2010 | 64 | 1,929 | 260 – 12,650 | 2,061 |
062024 → 2025
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Rose most
before → after- Bangladesh1,005,520 → 1,177,962+172,442
- South Sudan18,000 → 60,600+42,600
Malaysia120,857 → 134,676+13,819
Vietnam20,590 → 25,177+4,587- Canada8,166 → 10,288+2,122
Fell most
before → after
Myanmar619,429 → 519,647−99,782- Latvia173,891 → 167,512−6,379
- Uzbekistan20,000 → 16,000−4,000
- Russia90,185 → 87,826−2,359
Estonia63,944 → 62,043−1,901
94 countries were measured in both 2024 and 2025. The field changed from 95 to 94 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Stateless people in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
1,177,962
Stateless persons reported under UNHCR's mandate, end of year (people)
Lowest reading on record
Reached 34 times by 11 countries — shared, so no holder is named
5
Stateless persons reported under UNHCR's mandate, end of year (people)
Biggest rise between editions
+263,399
692,000 → 955,399
Biggest fall between editions
−304,425
925,939 → 621,514
Biggest change since first measured
+245,758
932,204 → 1,177,962
Highest most often
2 countries share this record — no holder is named
6 of 16
editions
08The measure
About stateless people
How many people living in each country are recognised as a national by no state, as reported to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, under its mandate to identify and protect stateless people. Without a nationality, people can be shut out of schooling, work, health care and the vote.
What the number is: Stateless persons reported under UNHCR's mandate, end of year (people).
What it does not measure
It counts only stateless people reported to UNHCR; where no one has counted them, a country has no figure, not a zero. It overlaps UNHCR's refugee counts and says nothing about how stateless people are treated.
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Risk & Resilience and People & Population, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Risk & ResiliencePeople & PopulationWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where stateless people is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where stateless people is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 242 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The countries at either end
More from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
11Questions
Stateless people: questions and answers
Which country has the highest stateless people?
Bangladesh, at 1,177,962, among the 94 countries compared in 2025.
Which country has the lowest stateless people?
3 countries share the lowest reading, 5, among the 94 compared in 2025, so no single country is named.
How many countries does the Stateless Persons by Country of Residence cover?
94 in 2025, and 104 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 62 to 95 between editions.
What is the world average stateless people?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 94 compared in 2025, the figure was 1,314.
Is this UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Stateless Persons by Country of Residence published?
This site holds 16 editions, describing 2010 to 2025.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, under CC BY 4.0. Read from the UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database through UNHCR's own API, by country of residence. UNHCR's database records a zero for every country without a statelessness figure; those zeros mean "not reported" and are left out rather than printed as none. UNHCR rounds figures below five to the nearest multiple of five. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Stateless Persons by Country of Residence — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Read from the UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database through UNHCR's own API, by country of residence. UNHCR's database records a zero for every country without a statelessness figure; those zeros mean "not reported" and are left out rather than printed as none. UNHCR rounds figures below five to the nearest multiple of five.
Newest edition
Report year 2025Data year 2025
Cite the source as: UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database. Geneva: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- This statistic has no better end, so the page describes higher and lower values and never calls a country a leader.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Stateless people by country: Stateless Persons by Country of Residence, data from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/stateless-persons