Facilities for the homeless being used by 11,500 people

Prague, Sept 17 (CTK) - A total of 11,496 homeless people in the Czech Republic use the services of asylum houses and other similar social facilities, according to a census by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) released by CSU deputy chairman Stanisalv Drapal yesterday.

The biggest number (2574) was registered in the Moravia-Silesia Region, followed by Prague (1254).

The real number of homeless people in the 10.5 million Czech Republic may be up to three times higher, Drapal said.

The count did not include people who live in the streets, in squats or use commercial dormitories.

According to the data, a typical homeless person is a man aged 45 to 49 who is a Czech citizen.

Women account for about 21.5 percent of the asylum houses clients.

About a half of the counted people (47.2 percent) were apprenticed or had secondary education without leaving exams. Another 28.5 percent had elementary education.

About 10 percent of the people had secondary school leaving exams and 2.6 percent of them are university graduates.

Almost a half of the homeless people are single, another 38 percent are divorced and only 9.5 percent are married, according to the CSU statistics.

This has been the first such count of homeless people that was part of the nationwide census taken last year.