Estimates of the numbers of runaway and homeless youths range from 1.3 million to 2 million each year. Fifty-five percent of homeless youths are males, and 65 percent of runaways are females. These youths come from families with varied economic circumstances and are not mainly from poor families receiving public assistance. Both runaway and homeless youth report very troubled family situations, including physical or sexual abuse, parental neglect, and domestic assault. Youth also report school problems, alcohol or other drug abuse problems, pregnancy, suspicion of pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. The majority of homeless and runaway youth have serious mental health problems. While living on the streets, these youth often experience health problems, sexual involvement, and exposure to gangs and gang violence. Programs to assist the homeless population usually ignore homeless youth. Almost half of homeless youth receive no services after leaving a shelter. Although short-term crisis intervention and emergency shelters may be sufficient for some youth, many youths also require long-term counseling, long-term housing options, alternative education, employment training, and other services such as drug abuse treatment and mental health services. 3 references