Those born in Northern Rhodesia would have been considered British Protected Persons (BPP). If the new Zambian constitution had conferred nationality, this status would have been lost. If not, BPP status would have been kept, which can be elevated to full British nationality in specific situations. There are currently about 1,200 people in Northern Rhodesia who could potentially benefit from BPP status. In fact, some of those who were born in Northern Rhodesia did get citizenship after independence. But many others who were living in Zambia at the time didn't. The government's decision not to grant citizenship to these people was probably because they didn't want to burden a young country with old debts. The main reason why so many BPPs didn't get citizenship was because there was no system in place to identify who was entitled to it. When the colonial government made its first attempt at creating a national identity card in 1908, only four out of every 100 residents aged over 14 years had been found eligible for one. About 70,000 people were believed to be born in Northern Rhodesia between 1919 and 1960, but only 1,600 applied for citizenship. This shows that although citizenship was offered to them, most BPPs didn't take up this offer because they didn't see the need for it.