![]() |
Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2025Population inequality matters
|
![]() |
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
|

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2025, pp. 97-125, 2025/12/17
Population inequality matters
The global population experiencing homelessness has increased significantly over the last century. In 2021, the UN recognised homelessness as a violation of human rights, and urged member states to improve data collection and implement solutions for homelessness. This call presents both a challenge and an opportunity for demographers, especially in the US, to enhance their methodologies for counting and characterising this vulnerable population. Despite the escalating humanitarian crisis, the formal demographic literature engages little with the core demography of individuals experiencing homelessness, focusing instead on the social and behavioural aspects of the issue. A comprehensive review of this literature has identified only one article dedicated to measuring and enumerating people experiencing homelessness. Meanwhile, other disciplines are filling this gap, highlighting the need for demographic expertise on this issue. This article examines the definition and measurement of homelessness in the US, which has been estimated to affect over 770,000 individuals in 2024. It also discusses the demographic methods that can be used to study this population, and concludes with recommendations for the field.
Keywords: Homelessness; Demography; Measurement; Forecasting; Unhoused populations; United States