this graph was created in OurDataWorld:
Counting how many people are affected by homelessness across different countries is challenging because countries differ in how they define and measure homelessness.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) works to make the definitions and methods as similar as possible. The charts below show this harmonized data.
The first chart presents countries that count the people affected by homelessness by counting on a single night each year those living on the street or staying in shelters. To adjust for the fact that countries have different populations, this is expressed as a rate: the number affected by homelessness per 100,000 people.
We see that countries have very different rates of homelessness. For example, 300 out of every 100,000 are reported homeless in France, while it’s fewer than 20 in Finland.
In about half of the countries, more than 100 in every 100,000 people are homeless. That means more than one per thousand people.
There are also differences in types of homelessness. The United States, for example, has relatively high numbers of people living in the streets or public spaces but fewer in temporary accommodations or shelters.
Not all countries on the chart can be directly compared. For example, Japan and Greece only report data on one type of homelessness, so they don’t give a complete picture of the total population affected by homelessness.