The Unicef in its "The Progress of Nations 1998" global report released at a function jointly by the Unicef assistant resident representative Razia Ismail, secretary of Education P R Das Gupta, secretary of labour L D Mishra and Registrar General and Census Commissioner V Unni, came down heavily on the rich nations for ignoring the welfare of the rich and making facilities like housing expensive.

The report states that "homelessness is a stark reality in some of the world's wealthiest countries." It names US, Canada, Germany, European Union countries, Belgium and Greece as the country's with worst homelessness record among the rich nations.

The report says that over 3 million homeless were in the 15 EU countries, a million in the US and in the biggest Canadian city of Toronto alonethere 6,500 without a shelter. A 1995 national study in the United States found that 26 per cent of young people in emergency shelters and 32 per cent of those on the street had made at least one suicide attempt.