What is homelessness like around the world?

Stronger Than The Streets will typically focus on the homelessness crisis in the United States, with occasional in depth blogs that provide a behind the scenes tour of all the efforts being made in San Diego. However, homelessness is a global issue affecting much more than just the United States. Today we’ll look at where homelessness is prominent internationally, and how countries efforts to end homelessness compare to the United States. And trust me, it is very different internationally, with some countries using crazy policies to end homelessness.

Syria 🇸🇾

Syria, a country located in the middle east, has an astonishing homelessness rate of 29.6%, with 6.56 million people experiencing homelessness out of Syria’s 22.1 million population. This can be easily explained, however, as Syria is currently in a civil war. To further this, according to the United Nations, 70% of Syrians lack access to potable water, with 9 million unable to access sufficient food suplies.

All hope is not lost, however, as the UNHCR (United Nations Human Rights Council) is delivering vital protection services, cash assistance, safe shelter, and other essential support to people displaced by the conflict.

Iceland 🇮🇸

Iceland, a small european country, has a completly different homeless situation than found in Syria. With a population of 393,396 million people, Iceland proudly boasts the smallest homeless population in the world, with a reported population of only 3,950 people.

Iceland has achieved this feat as the nation has made tackling homelessness a national priority, with huge ammounts of resources being dedicated twoards this population despite its small size. This has also contributed to Icelands large homeless population drop that has occurred over the past decade.

Japan 🇯🇵

Japan boasts the smallest homelessness rate in the world, with an impressive 0.003% or roughly 1 homeless person per 34,000 residents. Japan also has only 3,448 people experiencing homelessness, inspite of a population of around 125.7 million people. This decline is a result of initiatives undertaken by local authorities and regional NPOs.

United States 🇺🇸

The United States also boasts a relatively small homelessness rate compared to other global countries. With a population of over 330 million people, the United States only has a homelessness population of 582,000 people, or roughly 0.17% of the population. This homeless population is not evenly spread out across the continential US, with California accounting for 30% of the population, and New York accounting for anouther 13% of the countries homeless population. Some US states have extremly low homelessness rates, with Missisippi only having roughly 1000 individuals experiencing homelessness with a homelessness rate of 0.035%!

Homelessness isn’t a US based issue. There are many countries with worse homelessness rates. That being said, many countries also have better rates. In the end, this is highly subjective, as homelessness rates in the US average out the extreme rate in California with the extremly low homeless population of Missisippi.