AUSTRALIA
An estimated 105,000 people are homeless in Australia. Of those, 44% are female, 12% are children under the age of 12, and 25% are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. More than 30% of homeless people in Australia were born overseas (Homelessness Australia, 2009).
CAMBODIA
More than 180,000 people live in informal settlements in Phnom Penh (Youth Exchange, 2003) and there are around 20,000 street children who are often the victims of human trafficking (City Journal, 2013). Human Rights Watch (2012) reports about serious mistreatments of homeless people by police.
HONG KONG
About 40% of the population lives in subsidised housing. Around 100,000 live in “coffin homes,” “cage homes” and on rooftops (Feeding Hong Kong, The Global Mail, 2013). An estimated 1,400 homeless people live in Hong Kong, with the primary cause being a lack of affordable housing (City University of Hong Kong, 2014).
INDIA
India is estimated to be the home to 78 million homeless people, including 11 million street children (Business Standard, 2013; Slum Dogs). According to the 2011 census, there were 28% less homeless people from rural areas and 20% less homeless people living in the cities as compared to 2001 (Dr. Kumuda, 2014).
INDONESIA
There are approximately 3 million homeless people in Indonesia (Youth Exchange). According to the 2001 census, around 28,364 people were homeless in Jakarta, but due to recent natural disasters such as floods and storms the homeless population has grown significantly (2001 Census).
ISRAEL
The authorities report around 2,000 people living on the streets, but it is estimated that there are another 1,000 whose cases have not been recorded. Because of the limited definition of homelessness, there are around 10,000 people in insecure housing conditions who do not meet the criteria for social housing (Haaretz, 2011).
JAPAN
An estimated 25,000 people are homeless in Japan, 5,000 of whom live in Tokyo (International Network of Street Papers, 2006). There are also around three million “Internet cafe refugees” who move from café to café each night.
KYRGYZSTAN
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been in influx of migrants from rural areas to big cities, such as Bishkek or Osh. About 70% of 5.4 million people in Kyrgyzstan live in substandard housing. In 2005, more than 30,000 people in Bishkek declared they were homeless (Habitat.org). Around 20 to 30% of the urban population live in illegal settlements, where they have no social and civil rights.
PAKISTAN
More than 200 million people live in Pakistan (CIA World Factbook, 2016); 4 in 10 live in “multidimensional poverty” (UNDP, 2016). The PDP Foundation estimates that there are 20 million people without housing across the country.
PHILIPPINES
A quarter of the population lives below the national poverty line (World Bank, 2012). It is estimated that around 44% of the urban population live in slums (UN Habitat, 2008). The capital, Manila, has the largest homeless population of any city in the world – 3.1 million. An estimated 1.2 million children in the Philippines sleep rough, with 70,000 in Manila (IBT, 2014).
SOUTH KOREA
The South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare classified 4,921 people nationwide as homeless in 2012, up from 4,403 in 2011 and 4,187 in 2010 (Korean Herald, 2012). However, there are approximately 6,000 people who are residents of rental hostels, which significantly increases the number of homeless people (Osaka City University, 2009).
