LONDON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Deaths of homeless people have risen by 24 percent in Britain over the past five years, with almost 600 registered in 2017, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Thursday.

The figures were released as politicians discussed how a 43-year-old man was found dead earlier this week in a public subway outside the Houses of Parliament.

The homeless man, named in local media as Gyula Remes, moved into the subway, which gives access to Westminster Underground Station, to shelter from the cold.

London and the north west of England had the highest number of deaths of homeless people, ONS said in its new study. London had more than one-fifth (23 percent) of the estimated total number of homeless deaths in England and Wales. In contrast, Wales had fewer deaths than any of the regions of England.

An estimated 136 homeless people died in London last year while in north west England, around 82 deaths occurred in the Manchester and Liverpool regions, both well above any other parts of England.

December had the highest number of deaths of homeless people than any other month, said ONS.

It showed that men accounted for 84 percent of the 597 deaths last year. The study also revealed the average age among homeless people who died was 44 years for men and 42 years for women. That compares to the average age of death in England and Wales being 76 years for men and 81 years for women.

Ben Humberstone, deputy director for Health Analysis and Life Events at ONS said: "Every year hundreds of people die while homeless. These are some of the most vulnerable members of our society so it was vital that we produced estimates of sufficient quality to properly shine a light on this critical issue. We estimate that in 2017 there were 597 deaths of homeless people in England and Wales, a rise of 24 percent since 2013.

"Our findings show a pattern of deaths among homeless people which is strikingly different from the general population. Homeless people tend to die younger and from different causes. More than half were related to drug poisoning, suicide, or alcohol, causes that made up only 3 per cent of overall deaths last year."

The figures show over half of all deaths of homeless people in 2017 were due to drug poisoning, liver disease or suicide, with drug poisoning alone making up 32 percent of the total. Around 76 percent of the drug poisoning deaths involved an opiate, most often heroin or morphine.