Drug-related homeless deaths increase in Scotland

The NRS statisticians said the homeless death figures are an estimate based on the same methodology used every year.

They said “identifying whether a person was homeless when they died is not straightforward using the information recorded at death registration”.

There is no specific question on the death certificate asking if a person was homeless at the time of death.

Consequently, the data considers place of residence, place of death, hospital deaths, registrar notes and institution codes to determine whether a person died while homeless.

The NRS said only 210 people experiencing homelessness were identified to have died in 2023.

However, it is estimated that as many as 259 homeless people could have died in Scotland after taking into consideration unregistered deaths that may have been missed during the compilation of data.

The report stated estimated homeless deaths in other parts of the UK were not comparable with those in Scotland.

Beth Watson, NRS senior assistant statistician, said: “Our estimate shows the number of deaths among people experiencing homelessness in 2023 is similar to the level in 2022.

“Homeless deaths are at a higher level now compared to the 164 deaths in 2017, when these statistics were first collected.”