At least 624 homeless people died last year, according to a count by the collective Les Morts de la rue

At least 624 people living on the streets or in temporary accommodation died in 2022, according to a published report (PDF document) by the collective Les Morts de la rue, Friday October 27. This is a “scandalous societal drama”, he commented in a press release. This figure is stable compared to the previous year. According to the data he collected, 87% of these people were men, more of whom lived on the streets and for longer periods. These homeless people died with “very premature” : at 49 years on average, a life expectancy gap of more than 30 years with the general population.

The average age of homeless women who died in 2022 was 46 years, compared to 50 years for homeless men, while women have a higher life expectancy (85 years in 2022) than that of men (79 years) in the overall French population. This difference in the street can be explained by “the presence of certain diseases more common in women than in men”specifies the report, indicating that they are also hospitalized more often before their death than men.

The number of homeless people has doubled in ten years

Public spaces are the most common place of death, for 34% of men and 21% of women. Slightly more women than men end their lives in a place of care (38% compared to 31% of men), also corresponding to the fact that they are more likely than men to be in accommodation facilities. One in five deaths is linked to a violent death (attack, accident, suicide) and one in seven to an illness.

The number of homeless people in France has doubled in ten years, with more than 330,000 people according to the latest count from the Abbé Pierre Foundation (PDF document) in 2022. More and more women, families and minors are on the streets.