Disability Online for CSR Practitioners Disability: Some Facts
An Employers' Forum on Disability Briefing for CSR Practitioners
In association with AccountAbility with the support of Cable & Wireless
Statistics on disability are difficult to compare internationally: different countries have different definitions of disability and different degrees of political will to publicise such information.
Many sources underestimate the number of people for whom a physical or mental impairment creates a substantial disadvantage when they seek employment or access to the wider benefits of citizenship.
The following statistics therefore relate primarily to the UK and ILO sources. The Employers' Forum on Disability is always looking for data that expands our understanding of the global impact of disability.Contact us at efd@employers-forum.co.uk
People with Disabilities
- 8.6 million people (aged 16 and over) self declare as disabled (1)(15% of the UK population (2))
- Only 8 per cent of disabled people in the UK use a wheelchair
- The ILO estimates that there are 610 million disabled people worldwide (3)
- Four hundred million disabled people live in the world's developing countries (4)
- Disability is estimated to affect 10 percent to 20 percent of every country's population, a percentage that is expected to grow because of poor health care and nutrition early in life, growing elderly populations and violent civil conflicts (5)
- 39 million disabled people in Europe
- 400 million disabled people live in the developing world
Work and Disability
- 6.8 million people of working age (or nearly 20% of the working age population) have a disability (6)
- Of the 6.8 million disabled people of working age, 3 million (approx) are in work (7)
- 13 per cent of the UK workforce are disabled (8)
Economic and Social Exclusion
- 2.7 million people of working age in the UK receive incapacity benefits because of a health condition or disability (9)
- In excess of £pound;19bn is paid in incapacity and disability benefits each year (10)
- A recent survey revealed that one in six (15%) young disabled people said they had been turned down for a paid job, and told it was for a reason related to their disability or health problem (11)
- 41% of disabled people of working age have no educational qualifications in comparison to 18% of non disabled (12)
- Incomes of households with at least one disabled person are 20-30% lower than the incomes of all households (13)
Disability and Poverty
- "More than 1.3 billion people worldwide struggle to exist on less than $1 a day, and the disabled in their countries live at the bottom of the pile" James Wolfensohn (14)
- "Unless disabled people are brought into the development mainstream, it will be impossible to cut poverty in half by 2015 or to give every girl and boy the chance to achieve a primary education by the same date - goals agreed to by more than 180 world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000" James Wolfensohn (15)
- Poverty has a strong inter-relationship with disability. Poverty is estimated to be responsible for around 20% of disability (16)
- Disability Follow-up to the Family Resources Survey, 1996/97
- Extrapolated from National Statistics Office (Census 2001) and Disability Follow-up to the Family Resources Survey (1996/7)
- International Labour Organisation, 2000.
- World Bank, statement by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn in the Washington Post
- World Bank, statement by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn in the Washington Post
- Labour Force Survey, (DDA definition & including those with progressive condition) Spring 2002
- Disability Rights Commission Disability Briefing, Oct 2002
- Disability Rights Commission Disability Briefing, Oct 2002
- DWP - Pathways to Work 2002
- Edward Leigh Commons Public Accounts Committee - quoted on BBC website article (Disabled 'forced to wait for benefits'- 9/4/2002)
- Survey of young disabled people between the ages of 16 and 24 in England and Wales. The poll was undertaken by NOP for the Disability Rights Commission (157 respondents). November 2002
- Disability follow-up to the Family Resource Survey 96 - 97
- Disability follow-up to the Family Resource Survey 96 - 97
- World Bank, statement by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn in the Washington Post
- World Bank, statement by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn in the Washington Post
- World Bank