high as 1,500,000 people. As of 30 November 2018, the official distribution of registered refugees is as follows: Of the registered refugees, 55.6% are between the ages of 0-17. Along with Syrians, the influx of refugees due to the conflict includes 35,000 Lebanese returnees and 31,502 Palestinian refugees from Syria. Given the estimated population of Lebanon at 5.9 million, the 1.5 million Syrian refugees make Lebanon the country with the highest number of refugees per capita – with 1 refugee for every 4 nationals. Syrian refugee statistics documented by the UNHCR were ordered to cease in 2015 by the Lebanese government, the reason behind this is uncertain. Most Syrian refugees rent apartments, partly due to the absence of formal refugee camps. More than 80% of them rent accommodation in 1700 locations countrywide at an average price of $200 a month. The rest of them – who's percentage keeps increasing due to the deepening vulnerability – had to settle in unfinished buildings, garages, abandoned sheds, work sites and tents in informal settlements. Chronology of the registration of Syrian refugees post 2011 The exact number of refugees is difficult to pin down, but national politicians have used the refugee question for electoral purposes, in particular in the context of the campaign for the general elections scheduled in 2018. January 2014 - Prime Minister Najib Mikati declare that 900,000 “conflict refugees” came to Lebanon, “approaching a quarter of the population.” April 2014 - UNHCR states that Syrian refugees in Lebanon have passed the 1-million mark. May 2015 - UNHCR stops the registration of new refugees and asylum seekers. The peak number of 1.2 million then decreased to 1 million by 2017, as a share of officially registered refugees were resettled, departed or died. September 2015 - Gebran Bassil, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, referred to refugees as a burden, arguing that the 1-million figure doesn’t account for all concerned: “it’s 1.5 [million Syrians] plus 500,000 Palestinians so 45-50% of the population.” October 2017: Esther Pinzari, UNHCR protection officer, explained Syrian refugees total 1 million in Lebanon. The Lebanese government, in the meantime, puts the number over 1.5 million, claiming that even that number is an understatement. November 2017: Major General Abbas Ibrahim, the head of General Security, states that the total number of refugees exceeds 2.5 million, including all nationalities. Naturalization and Syrians Excessive restrictions were placed on Lebanese citizenship due to