The Glasgow-headquartered international network of papers and magazines aimed at lifting homeless people out of poverty - that includes the Big Issue Scotland magazine - has announced a surge in sales.

The International Network of Street Papers, sold by homeless vendors, has seen its global sales figure rise by 10 per cent. In September, it had combined sales of 1.51 million, compared to 1.37 million twelve months previously.

Readership of the 115 titles within the group, spread across 40 countries, has now hit 5.27 million against 4.79 million a year ago.

The biggest rises were recorded in North America, by 36 per cent. In Europe, the readership rise was by 6.4 per cent.

Adds the INSP, ten new titles were launched in the year up to September, street papers are now read in 24 languages and weekly bulletins highlighting their content are now sent to 1200 media outlets, NGOs and government bodies around the world.