By the numbers

The data

Awareness starts with understanding the scale of the need. These headline figures are drawn from official and widely-cited sources — follow each link to the primary data.

A key beside a home, symbolising access to housing

How to read these figures. Homelessness is famously hard to count, and definitions differ between countries, so estimates vary and should be treated as indicative. Figures shown are rounded headline numbers; click through to each source for methodology, dates and detail.

Where to dig deeper

Trusted data sources

ABS — Estimating Homelessness

Australia's official Census-based homelessness estimates.

AIHW — Homelessness Services

Specialist homelessness services data for Australia.

UN-Habitat

Global housing and human-settlements data and reporting.

FEANTSA

European homelessness data, ETHOS typology and reports.

Alliance to End Homelessness

US "State of Homelessness" data and analysis.

Institute of Global Homelessness

Global definitions, comparisons and street-homelessness work.