Homeless deaths in Scotland up nearly 40% annually

The number of people dying homeless in Scotland saw a 38% increase in 2025 compared to the previous year.

According to research by the Museum of Homelessness (MoH), which has been tracking homeless deaths across the UK since 2017, 232 homeless people died in Scotland last year, the highest number so far and an increase from 168 in 2024.

In 2025, 1,720 people in the UK, including 51 children, died while sleeping rough, living in temporary accommodation or other insecure accommodation

The total annual increase across the regions came to 6.8%, with 1,235 deaths reported in England. This figure is also a record-high and an 8.1% increase from the previous year.

However, homeless deaths in Wales fell 31.1% to 62 and 9.5% to 191 in Northern Ireland.

Bristol, Brighton and Hove, Edinburgh, Camden and Stirling had the five highest rates of reported deaths per 100,000 people.

MoH, a charity founded and led by people with direct experience of homelessness, found that local authorities are under-reporting the “true scale” of homeless deaths, with 15% failing to respond or stating that they did not hold this data.

As part of a series of recommendations, the group called for a legal mandate requiring all local authorities to record and report homeless deaths in their area and appoint a responsible individual to publish learning from deaths.

So-called ‘deaths of despair’ caused by drugs, alcohol or suicide, were the most common (52%), prompting the group to call on the government to urgently invest in recovery, harm reduction and mental health services.

The study’s findings drew on on Freedom of Information requests, coroners’ reports, homelessness organisations, families and media reports.

Since 2017, 10,243 people have died homeless.