SINGAPORE, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Singapore identified 496 people sleeping rough in a single-night street count conducted in mid-July 2025, according to a government report released on Friday.
The report on the Street Count of Rough Sleepers 2025 showed the figure was 6.4 percent lower than the 530 recorded in a similar count in 2022.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development defines "rough sleepers" as individuals sleeping in public spaces, regardless of their housing circumstances, including those who have no homes as well as those who have homes but face difficulties returning to them.
Of those identified in 2025, 85 percent were male and more than half were aged above 50, the report said.
The one-night count was followed by a survey conducted from July to August 2025 to better understand the profiles of rough sleepers and their reasons for sleeping outdoors.
The most commonly cited reasons were similar to those in 2022. Nearly half of respondents cited disagreements with family members, friends or co-tenants, while 29 percent pointed to difficulties in securing or maintaining housing, and 20 percent cited financial issues.
"Rough sleeping is not always driven by a lack of housing options," the ministry said, noting that 47 percent of respondents reported having a place they could return to despite their reasons for sleeping rough.
The survey also found that about two-thirds of respondents were in some form of employment, mostly in lower-income jobs. Nearly half reported having some form of medical condition or disability. ■