Thailand, which has one of the world's largest stateless populations, has granted nationality to just over 18,770 stateless people — 4.2 percent of the total — in the past three years, U.N. officials announced on Tuesday.
"These figures ... really show the potential for ending statelessness in Thailand," said Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, the representative in Thailand of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.
With 443,862 people still recorded as stateless as of October, the country will need to scale up progress rapidly if it is to meet a U.N. target to end global statelessness by 2024.