612
This is the official total for the number of homeless people who died in France in 2018, according to a new report by the French charity Morts de la Rue.
The figure represents those living either on the streets or in emergency shelters or unofficial squats in the months before they die. Some 20 percent of victims have been SDF (sans domicile fixe or homeless) for five years before their death.
In reality the real number is likely to be far higher. In fact health authorities in France suggest the true total could be as much as six times higher.
It can often be hard to determine an exact cause of death. Many homeless people suffer from illnesses and some 30 percent are addicted to alcohol or drugs. The suicide rate among homeless people is higher than average and violent attacks and accidents are also behind some of the deaths.
19 percent
This represents the percentage increase in the number of deaths between 2018 and 2017, when there were 511 recorded deaths of homeless people.
That represents the biggest jump in recent years but the number of deaths have been steadily rising since 2013 when there were 461 recorded.
50 percent
According to Morts de la Rue, 50 percent of the homeless people who die do so “before our eyes”, in other words on the streets in full view of the public.
48.7
That's the average age of the homeless men who died last year, well below France's average life expectancy which currently stands at 82 years.
14 percent
Some 14 percent of those homeless people who die are from around Europe. Indeed less than half are French, according to stats from Morts de la Rue.
Some 20 percent of victims are from outside the EU and 25 percent are registered as “unknown origin”.
13
The number of those who die on the streets of France or in shelters also include minors. Last year there were 13 homeless people who died under the age of 18.
90 percent
While 90 percent of the victims are men, there are an increasing number of women.
How can there be a roof over every head when millions of undocumented migrants stream in from broken countries in the middle east and africa. In the long term rather than in the short term, money would be better spent fixing broken countries who should be caring for their own citizens. Europe cannot fix the world by accommodating the world.
Now it is a right to have a roof too? And France keeps taking in uneducated and unskilled people from third world countries? Why?