Of the 8.2 billion people currently living on planet Earth, a significant percentage is homeless. This is why in almost every city on the planet, people can be observed sleeping on the streets, on park benches or elsewhere they possibly can. Homelessness is not a personal choice, and it affects people of all ages, sexes, races, and backgrounds. It is among the most obvious example of poverty, prejudice, and inequality.
Although hard to track, the number of homeless people increases every year, with few countries being an exceptions.
Homelessness statistics at a glance
- Data presented in 2024 by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) showed that there were between 1.6 billion and 3 billion people around the world without decent housing.
- More than 1.1 billion people resided in slums and unauthorized settlements in 2022, which is an increase of around 130 million compared to 2015.
- The Institute of Global Homelessness estimates that at least 330 million people face absolute homelessness – the situation when a person lacks any type of shelter.
- In 2024, over 60% of people facing homelessness were men, and around 30% were women.
- According to the Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness, official government statistics on homelessness are available in just 78 of 195 countries. Moreover, since 2018, only 57 nations have released official government data about homelessness.
Surprisingly, living in a rich country or healthy economy is no guarantee to being “homelessness immune”. This article presents homelessness statistics around the globe, describing countries where most homeless people live, and the nations with the highest and lowest homelessness rates. But first, let’s explore the causes of homelessness.
Major causes of homelessness
Although the world has millions of homeless people, it is challenging to quantify homelessness with any degree of accuracy due to the lack of reliable statistics. Numerous factors contribute to the phenomenon, many of which are interconnected.
- Conflicts cause people to lose their homes and look for a place to stay but not everyone is lucky enough to find adequate shelter
- Natural disasters destroy homes, leaving families without a roof over their heads
- The absence of affordable housing is another major cause. Some people are unable to pay their rent or mortgage due to unemployment which can be caused by a crisis or by physical or mental health issues.
- Despite having a job, some homeless people do not earn enough to be able to cover their rent, sometimes as a result of an increase in local housing costs.
Virtually every country around the globe has a homeless population. From this perspective, nations can be divided into two categories: those with the highest homeless population, and those with the highest homeless rate.
- Homeless population is the number of homeless individuals on a given night in a specific nation
- Rate of homelessness is the rate of homeless people in relation to a country’s total population
Countries with the highest number of homeless people
While some nations have limited definitions of homelessness that only apply to particular groups, others lack geographically comprehensive approaches to track this social phenomenon. This is why it is impossible to accurately publish a list of those countries with the highest number of homeless people or the highest rate of homeless per 10,000 inhabitants.
Despite this fact and based on data collected from various sources, including United Hands Relief and the Borgen Project, the most homeless people were in Nigeria, while Syria had the greatest rate of homelessness worldwide.
Homelessness in Nigeria
- Nigeria population: 218.5 million
- Homeless population: 24.4 million
Nigeria has the world’s highest number of homeless people, and although there appears to be a precise number of homeless people, it is impossible to track and quantify those who change their state of “homelessness”.
Nigerians frequently migrate from rural areas to large cities in search of shelter, money and opportunity. Many, however, have trouble adjusting to city life due to:
- High cost of living
- Lack of social support
- Challenges in getting a job (since newcomers lack the required education and communication skills)
- Abuse that some people face
- Hazardous jobs performed for meagre remuneration
In Nigeria, homeless people represent about 13% of the total population of the country. In addition, 70% of Nigerians are living in “informal settlements,” and the most severe problem is in the country’s biggest city, Lagos, where around two-thirds of the population live below the poverty line of US$1 a day.
Homelessness is made worse by forced eviction, which happens when the government provides land to private developers. In the past 15 years alone, about 1 million individuals have had to abandon their homes.
Homelessness in Syria
- Population: 22.1 million
- Homeless: 6.56 million
Syria – the country with the highest percentage of homeless people.
According to UN Refugees, over 14 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety since 2011. Today, there are around 6.2 million refugees who have managed to flee Syria and find shelter in neighboring countries or further afield.
Furthermore, over 7 million Syrians are still internally displaced, around 90% of people live below the poverty line and 70% of people require humanitarian aid.
Syria continues to have the worst displacement situation in the world. After 11 years of the ongoing war, the Syrian refugee issue is the greatest global refugee and resettlement disaster of our time.
Another major cause of homelessness in Syria is the lack of water infrastructure, destroyed during wars, and food insecurity.
Prior to 2010, 92% of Syrians living in rural areas and 98% of those living in urban areas had consistent access to clean water. However, according to current UN estimates, the war in Syria has caused damage to 30% of water towers, around 50% of all pumping stations, and almost two-thirds of water treatment plants. Furthermore, according to the UN, 70% of Syrians currently lack access to potable water because of infrastructural failure.
The latest data indicates that 14.5 million Syrians are food insecure, and over 9 million face acute food insecurity, according to Humanitarian Action. Moreover, 5.4 million people are on the brink of facing hunger.
Put together, these conditions point towards an increase in homeless people in Syria.
- The main reason behind the huge number of homeless is war which has left 90% of the population in poverty.
- The war has left 90% of the population in poverty
- Infrastructure has collapsed. This includes hospitals, clinics, schools, and water and sewage systems.
Homelessness statistics in the United States
The number of Americans exposed to homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The latest homelessness data shows that 771,480 people in the U.S. (which is around 23 of every 10,000 Americans) were homeless and living in emergency shelters, safe havens, transitional housing programs, or unsheltered areas nationwide.
The major factors causing homelessness in the U.S. include:
- Dramatic situation of the nation’s affordable housing
- Increasing inflation
- Declining incomes of middle- and lower-income households
- Lasting effects of systemic racism
- Public health crisis
- Natural disasters that forced people to flee their homes
These causes, which in many cases can intersect, have led to an increase in homelessness in the U.S.
The graph below illustrates the number of people facing homelessness by shelter status in the period between 2007 and 2024.
Source: The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress
*The graph omits total homelessness and unsheltered counts for 2021 due to pandemic-related disruptions. Sheltered homelessness estimates for 2021 may be artificially low due to reduced shelter capacity and safety concerns.
Homelessness by state in the U.S.
Data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicates that California and New York were the two states that encountered the biggest numbers of homeless people in 2024:
- California: 187,084 people
- New York: 158,019 people
Moreover, these two states had a rate of homelessness much higher than the average of 23 homeless people per 10,000 inhabitants across the United States.
- California: 48 homeless per 10,000 people
- New York: 81 homeless per 10,000 people
The graph below shows in which states the rate of homelessness underwent the highest changes.
Top 10 U.S. states by homelessness rate
Source: USAFacts
Hawaii is the state that faced nearly a double increase in homelessness in the period 2019-2024 – from 44 persons per 10,000 to 80 persons.
High increases were also registered in New York and Vermont, where the rate increased by around 30 persons per 10,000.
Although there was a decline in the number of homeless people in four states – Wyoming, Maryland, Mississippi, and Texas – the figures were relatively low.
In 2023, the highest rents in the country were registered in the states of California, Washington, DC, and Hawaii, while Mississippi, where the number of homeless people dropped, had the second-lowest rents in the country.
Population experiencing homelessness in Europe
The level of homelessness in the European Union (EU) has registered a dramatic increase over the past decade, with the figures being particularly alarming in France and Germany, where homelessness has nearly doubled.
- France: 333,000 homeless people
- Germany: 263,000 homeless people
In terms of the homelessness rate in the EU, once again France is first on the list followed by the Czech Republic and Germany:
- France 30.7 per 10,000 people
- The Czech Republic 28.4 per 10,000 people
- Germany 25.8 per 10,000 people
According to the most recent data, about one million people experience homelessness each night in the EU and the UK, making it one of Europe’s most pressing problems.
As for the United Kingdom, data from the UK housing and homeless charity Shelter shows that about 400,000 are homeless in the country, of whom 309,000 are in England.
According to Ruth Owen, Deputy Director of European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), two major problems that are making the situation worse are the scarcity of reasonably priced housing and the inadequacy of support systems.
Source: EuroNews
While the statistics presented above are all point-in-time and offer an overview of homelessness at a specific moment in time, homelessness is typically a dynamic and changing issue.
Flow counts, on the other hand, provide a slightly different perspective by gathering statistics over a specific period of time such as the number of people who were housed in a shelter over the course of a year.
That said, in 2023, Latvia documented 31.9 homeless individuals per 10,000 in the flow category, while Austria recorded 21.7 and were the first and second nations in this aspect, respectively.
Source: EuroNews
Which country has no homeless population?
With only two homeless people per 100,000, Japan is said to have the lowest rate of homelessness among developed nations who are members of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD).
Homelessness in Japan dropped by 8% in 2023 to a record low of 2,820 people in April 2024, as reported by the Japan Times with the authorities explaining this drop was due to efficient social assistance policies. Japan has a population of around 124 million.
However, in Japan, the statistical definition of homelessness is very narrow and includes only “people who live their daily life in a park, a riverbed, at a road, a station or other institutions”.
Japan’s diverse strategy to reduce homelessness involves giving those who lack housing access to resources, permanent shelter, and community assistance.
Final word
Although it is difficult to analyse the countries with the highest and lowest number of homeless people because very few surveys have been carried out and some were done a while ago, we still can get a glimpse of what’s going on. Obviously, the nations that face ongoing conflicts and suffer serious issues register an increasing number of homeless people. At the same time, developed countries like Iceland (which is also among the world’s happiest) and Japan not only have a very low homeless population but continue to invest in tackling the issue of homelessness.
