The World Homeless Day (observed on 10 October) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and Social Exclusion (observed on 17 October) will be marked in Zagreb on Monday, 11 October, to draw attention to the problems faced by 2,000 people in Croatia who live in abject poverty, state agency Hina said on Wednesday.

The data on the number of homeless persons in Croatia vary. The Croatian Homeless Network estimates that about 2,000 people live in abject poverty, or without a roof over their heads. However, if persons with insecure and inappropriate housing are taken into account, their number rises to 10,000, the Pet Plus association said on Wednesday.

The associations Pet Plus, Dom Nade and Stijena Resoc will gather together at Zagreb’s central train station at 2 pm on Monday to raise public awareness of the needs of homeless people and the reasons why people sometimes end up on the street.

The associations say that poverty is the reason for homelessness in 69 percent of cases, and that as many as 88 percent of registered homeless people are of a working age. That is why they are calling for their employment as a way of helping them out of homelessness.

The associations highlighted the problem of getting identification documents, saying that homeless people often cannot get them and that that is why the number of registered homeless people in Croatia is much lower than their actual number.