Today, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
has released new figures on the number of homeless people who
died in England and Wales in 2018. The figures
show:
-
In 2018, an estimated 726 homeless people
died in England and Wales, with 692 (95%) of
those in England. This is the biggest annual increase (22%)
since records
began
-
The number of estimated deaths in England and Wales
has increased by 51% over the
last five years (between 2013 and 2018)
-
Last year, the areas with the highest
numbers of estimated deaths were Birmingham (23),
Newcastle (20), Manchester (19), Bristol (17) and
Liverpool
(16).
-
There were 148 estimated deaths
in London, the highest of any region*. This
accounts for 20% of deaths in England and
Wales.
-
In 2018,
the average age at death of homeless people
was 45 for men
and 43 for women. This is more than 30
years lower than the average age at death of the general
population of England and
Wales.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter,
said: “This is a moment
to pause and reflect on what matters to us as a society. These
tragic deaths are the consequence of a housing system and economy
that is failing too many of our fellow
citizens.
“We desperately need to set a new course, and to
do that we need urgent
action.
“You can’t solve homelessness without
homes, so we are calling on all parties to commit to
building the social homes we need to form the bedrock
of a more humane housing
system.”
ENDS
Notes to the
editor
-
The number of homeless people who died in
England and Wales is the estimated number
of homeless people who died who were rough sleeping
or living in emergency accommodation, such as shelters and
hostels, at or around the time of death. The is available
at ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018, Table 1.
-
Deaths of homeless people were identified from the
death registration records held by ONS, and a
statistical method of modelling was applied to
estimate the most likely number of additional
registrations not identified as homeless people. The
method used provides a robust but conservative estimate, so the
real numbers may be
higher.
-
The number of homeless people who died in England
and Wales increased from 597 in 2017 to 726 in
2018. The is available at
ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018, Table
1
-
The number of homeless people who died every day
last year is calculated by dividing the estimated number
of homeless people who died in England and Wales in
2018 (726) by the number of days in a
year.
-
The number of homeless people who died in England
is the estimated number of homeless people who died
who were rough sleeping or living in emergency accommodation,
such as shelters and hostels, at or around the time of
death. The is available at
ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018, Table
6
-
The increase in the number of estimated deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales is calculated by comparing
data from 2018 with data from 2013. This is available
at ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018, Table 1
-
The areas with the highest numbers of estimated
deaths is from ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018,
Table 7
-
Although London is a city, it is counted as a
region because it is made up of 32 different local
authorities. The region with the highest numbers of
estimated deaths is from ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018,
Table 6
-
The average age at death is the mean age
at death of homeless people. This is available
at ONS, Deaths of
homeless people in England and Wales:
2018, Table 2
-
In the general population of England and Wales, the
mean age at death was 76 years for men and 81 years for
women. This is 31 years higher than the mean age
at death for men and 38 years higher than the mean
age at death for women. The mean age at death for the
general population of England and Wales is available
at ONS, Average age
at death - by sex, UK
