ShareEurope has about 3 million people living on the street, out of a population of about 460 million. So Europe has 1 street dweller for every 153 million people. The USA has about 750,000 people living on the street, out of a population of about 300 million. So America has 1 street dweller for every 400 million people.
(Sources of the data above: world-gazetteer.com for population figures; unicef.org for street dweller figures)
The USA is doing much better then Europe at having its population avoid living on the street.
What explains this difference? Is it that a freer form of market capitalism has allowed the USA to more productively generate wealth and provide housing to its people, allowing for less destitute people, despite (or because of?) a social safety net that isn’t as rigorous? Is it related to the density of people per square mile? If I can find data, comparing the ratio of street dwellers to population in affluent Western European countries seems like it would reveal something interesting…
It’s becuase in Europe there is public transportation and hostels which allow street dwelling as a way of life. This nomadic lifestyle is quite popular with millions of people under 25.