Homelessness

Data on homelessness worldwide is varied, as the definition of homelessness differs from nation to nation, and natural disasters and other crises can cause fluctuations in the number of homeless individuals at a given time.¹ In a global survey in 2005, the United Nations estimated the number of homeless individuals worldwide to be over 100 million. Surveys struggle to account for homeless populations living in slums, camps or other transitional forms of shelter — the “hidden homeless.”² In 2015, Habitat for Humanity estimated that 1.6 billion people lacked sufficient shelter or housing.³ In the United States alone over half a million people are homeless.⁴ In Guinea, just 31.5 percent of the population has a form of shelter with permanent walls.⁵ Eighty percent of Mali’s citizens lack sufficient housing, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).⁶ Fifteen million people in Egypt live in slums⁷ — 15 percent of its population.⁸ In Indonesia, 3 million people are without a home.⁹ The Russian government estimates that there are five million homeless people throughout the country, of which one million are children, accounting for 3.5 percent of the Russian population.¹⁰