List of sovereign states by homeless population
Global homelessness is estimated at about 150 million people. In 2016, Habitat for Humanity estimated that about 1.6 billion people live in shelters that are not adequate.
Definitions of homelessness vary by country. It can mean living in a shelter, being in between homes, or living in a place that isn’t fit for people to live.
Some counts include people displaced inside their own country by war, violence, or natural disasters; others do not. Because of these differences, it’s hard to compare numbers from one country to another.
Territories that are not independent are often counted with their country, but some publish their own data when their numbers are large. For example, in 2017 Hong Kong reported about 1,800 homeless people, mainly due to the high cost of living.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 10:50 (CET).