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What country has the lowest rate of homelessness?

Sep 21, 2022

3 min read

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The short answer is Japan, but let's take a deeper look at how we came to that conclusion.

In our previous article, we detailed which country has the highest rate of homelessness in the world and different continental regions. In this article, we will explore which country has the lowest rate of homelessness.

Whenever comparing homelessness statistics, it is essential to clarify the characteristics that define our discussion.

The term homeless population will refer to the average number of homeless people on a given night in a particular country. On the other hand, the term rate of homelessness will refer to the number of homeless people relative to the size of the greater population.

In effect, this provides us with a percentage of the homeless population. These key terms will be used to contrast and display the state of homelessness within each country and allow us to compare different countries and continental regions.

Europe

The country with the smallest number of homeless people in Europe is Iceland, with roughly 349 people per night. So naturally, this statistic is subject to a relatively small gross population of only 366,425 citizens. This gives Iceland a rate of homelessness of 0.09%.

Switzerland, however, has the second smallest homeless population of 2,200 people per night. With a significantly larger gross population size of 8.63 million people, Switzerland's rate of homelessness sits at around 0.02%. This equates to about 1 per 3,925, amongst the lowest rates in the world.

Finland, which is globally renowned for its fight against homelessness through the Housing First principle, has the 8th smallest homeless population and the 10th lowest rate of homelessness in Europe.

The reason Finland's 0.08% rate of homelessness is so renowned is because of the rapid and consistent decline the country has seen over the past decade as they seek to end homelessness completely. Check out our article to learn more about Finland's approach and which country handles homelessness best.

For perspective, we can compare these rates to the UK, which has 227,000 homeless people. With a gross population of 67.22 million people, the UK has a rate of 0.34%, which is over 4 times higher than any of the other European countries we have discussed.

Asia

The country with the lowest number of homeless people in Asia is Thailand. With roughly 2,700 people homeless per night, Thailand has a rate of 0.004%. This is the equivalent of one person in every 25,000.

On the other hand, Japan has a slightly larger number of homeless people but almost double Thailand's gross population size. This leaves Japan with the lowest rate of homelessness worldwide at 0.003%, which is approximately 1 homeless person out of every 34,000 citizens.

This means that Japan has the lowest homelessness rate in Asia and the lowest rate of homelessness in the world. These two countries' policies and strategies are an example to the rest of the world of how to manage homelessness.

Africa

In Africa, the country with the smallest population of homeless people in Ghana. With approximately 100,000 homeless per night, Ghana's rate of homelessness is around 1 in 303 people (0.32%)

Kenya has a significantly larger population than Ghana but also has a relatively low rate of homelessness. Kenya has approximately 394,000 homeless people with a national population of 53.77 million. This equates to about 0.73% of the population.

This means that Ghana has the lowest homelessness rate in Africa and the smallest number of homeless people in Africa.

North America

In North America, Costa Rica has the smallest homeless population of approximately 3,387 people out of the 5.094 million citizens. Costa Rica also has the lowest rate of homelessness relative to its population size, with a rate of 0.06%. This is the equivalent of one homeless person per 1,515 people.

Second to Costa Rica is Canada. With a homelessness ratio of 30,000 out of 38.01 million, Canada has a rate of 0.08%.

The third lowest rate of homelessness in North America is the United States, which has approximately half a million homeless people, with a rate of 0.15%.

South America

In South America, Chile has the smallest homeless population, with only 14,013 homeless people. With a gross population of 19.2 million, this means that Chile also has the lowest homelessness rate in South America, with around one in 1,350 people (0.07%).

Brazil has the second lowest number of homeless people in South America at 222,000 people out of 212,600,000, making the rate of homelessness 0.1%.

Oceania

In Oceania, New Zealand has the smallest homeless population, with around 5,031 homeless or sleeping rough on any given night. This equates to approximately one in 833 people (0.12%).

Australia has the second smallest number, with around 100,535 people experiencing homelessness. This makes Australia's rate of homelessness work out to be 0.49%.