In France, the number of children sleeping on the streets has risen sharply, with over 2,000 children reported homeless due to a shortage of emergency shelter places. According to a barometer published by UNICEF France and the Fédération des acteurs de la solidarité, 2,159 children were counted sleeping rough on the night of August 18-19, 2025. This represents a 33% increase compared to 2022 and a 6% rise from the previous year. Among these children, 563 are infants. The situation has been described as dramatic and unacceptable by UNICEF France, whose president highlighted that in 2024, 31 children died on the streets. The increase is considered extremely worrying and unprecedented by social actors. The crisis has prompted calls for urgent action, including proposals to close the juvenile prison in Marseille to better protect vulnerable minors. Meanwhile, the number of children waiting for daycare places in Japan has decreased for the eighth consecutive year, reaching a record low of 2,254 due to declining birth rates, according to the Japanese Child and Family Agency.
"Ces enfants sont laissés à l'abandon" : la contrôleure générale préconise "la fermeture" de la prison pour mineurs de Marseille https://t.co/SvGAdtXpfA
🇫🇷 France faces record number of homeless children as school year begins. UNICEF France and the Federation of Solidarity Actors found that 2,159 children were left without shelter on the night of August 18, even after their families had managed to reach the emergency housing
待機児童2254人、過去最少 少子化で8年連続減―こども家庭庁 https://t.co/dbmvSkvLS2