FOI reference: FOI-2025-3314
You asked
I would like to know the total number of deaths of people experiencing homelessness in Britain between 1 January 2015 and 1 January 2020.
For clarity, please include:
- People who were sleeping rough at the time of death
- People living in temporary accommodation, hostels, or other homelessness services
- Any deaths recorded as part of your organisation's standard homeless mortality statistics
If possible, please also provide:
- Any notes or limitations that affect the interpretation of the figures.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We have previously published statistics on deaths of homeless people in England and Wales. These statistics are derived from information supplied when deaths are registered in England and Wales. Following a consultation on health and care statistical outputs, we are still exploring when the next homeless death statistics will be published, and will announce a publication date when available.
The estimated number of deaths of homeless people that were registered by year can be found in our Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales dataset (Table 1). Our statistics mainly include people sleeping rough or using emergency accommodation, such as homeless shelters and direct access hostels, at or around the time of death. Where detectable, they also include hidden homelessness, which is not included in official statistics such as statutory homelessness. Notes and limitations that affect the interpretation of the statistics can be found in our Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales: 2021 registrations bulletin published on 23 November 2022, and our Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).
Figures for deaths of homeless people that occur in Scotland and Northern Ireland are published by National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, respectively.