Disability facts and figures

An overview of official UK disability statistics from the Office for Disability Issues

General disability statistics by topic

These statistics are reviewed and updated throughout the year as new data is published. Sources are cited in the footnotes.

The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) publishes annual Disability Equality Indicators which provide more detail on the subject areas presented here.

Disability prevalence factsheet (PDF, 1 page, 24 KB) (last updated: 30 September 2011)

There are over ten million people with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability in Great Britain [1]
In Great Britain, the most commonly-reported impairments are those that affect mobility, lifting or carrying [2]
The prevalence of disability rises with age. Around one in 20 children are disabled, compared to around one in seven working age adults* and almost one in two people over state-pension age** in Great Britain. [3]

A substantially higher proportion of individuals who live in families with disabled members live in poverty, compared to individuals who live in families where no one is disabled
21 per cent of individuals in families with at least one disabled member live in relative income poverty, on a Before Housing Costs basis, compared to 16 per cent of individuals in families with no disabled member [4]
25 per cent of children in families with at least one disabled member are in poverty, a significantly higher proportion than the 18 per cent of children in families with no disabled member [5]

The employment-rate gap between disabled and non-disabled people has decreased from around 36 per cent in 2002 to around 30 per cent in 2009 [6]
However, disabled people remain far less likely to be in employment. In 2011, the employment rate of disabled people was 48.8 per cent, compared with 77.5 per cent of non-disabled people [7]
Disability Employment Factsheet: Employment Rates (PDF, 5 Pages, 46KB)
Disability Employment Factsheet: Employment rates of disabled people, by main impairment type (PDF, 3 Pages, 37KB)

Between 2005/06 and 2009/10, the percentage of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C has
- increased from 66 per cent to 85 per cent for students without Special Educational Needs (SEN)
- increased from 20 per cent to 51 per cent for students with SEN without a statement
- increased from nine per cent to 20 per cent for students with SEN with a statement [8]

Disabled people are around twice as likely not to hold any qualifications compared to non-disabled people, and around half as likely to hold a degree-level qualification [9]
20 per cent of working age disabled people do not hold any formal qualification, compared to eight per cent of working age non-disabled people [10]
13 per cent of working age disabled people hold degree-level qualifications compared to 25 per cent of working age non-disabled people [11]

Over a fifth of disabled people say that they do not frequently have choice and control over their daily lives [12]

Disabled people are significantly more likely to experience unfair treatment at work than non-disabled people. In 2008, 19 per cent of disabled people experienced unfair treatment at work compared to 13 per cent of non-disabled people [13]
Around a third of disabled people experience difficulties related to their impairment in accessing public, commercial and leisure goods and services [14]

Disabled people remain significantly less likely to participate in cultural, leisure and sporting activities than non-disabled people. Latest data shows disabled people are more likely to have attended a cinema, museum or gallery than in 2005/06. However disabled people are less likely to have participated in sporting activities, attended historic environment sites or the library over the same period [15]

Disabled people are less likely to have engaged in civic involvement than non-disabled people. In 2009/10, 55 per cent of disabled people undertook at least one activity of civic involvement in the last 12 months compared to 60 per cent of non-disabled people [16]
Disabled people are significantly less likely to engage in formal volunteering. In 2009/10, 22 per cent of disabled people engaged in formal volunteering at least once a month, compared with 26 per cent of non-disabled people [17]

Around a fifth of disabled people report having difficulties related to their impairment or disability in accessing transport [18]
Between 2004/05 and 2009/10, the percentage of buses with low-floor wheelchair access increased from 53 per cent to 89 per cent [19]

Disabled people are significantly less likely to live in households with access to the internet than non-disabled people. In 2010 58 per cent of disabled people lived in households with internet access, compared to 84 per cent of non-disabled people [20]

Disabled people are significantly more likely to be victims of crime than non-disabled people. This gap is largest amongst 16-34 year-olds where 38 per cent of disabled people reported having been a victim of crime compared to 30 per cent of non-disabled people [21]
Disabled people are less likely than their non-disabled peers to think the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is fair. This gap is largest amongst 16-34 year-olds, where 49 per cent of disabled people think that the CJS is fair compared to 65 per cent of non-disabled people [22]

Although the gap in non-decent accommodation has closed over recent years, one in three households with a disabled person still live in non-decent accommodation [23]
One in five disabled people requiring adaptations to their home believe that their accommodation is not suitable [24]

Source: Family Resources Survey 2009/10
Source: Family Resources Survey 2009/10
Source: Source: Family Resources Survey 2009/10; *Working Age refers to men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59; **State Pension Age refers to men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over
Source: Households Below Average Income 2009/10
Source: Households Below Average Income 2009/10
Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2, 2002 and Quarter 2, 2009
Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2, 2011
Source: National Pupil Database 2005/06-2009/10
Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2, 2010
Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2, 2010
Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2, 2010
Source: ONS Opinions Survey 2010
Source: Fair Treatment at Work Survey 2008
Source: ONS Opinions Survey 2010
Source: Taking Part Survey 2009/10
Source: Citizenship Survey 2009/10
Source: Citizenship Survey 2009/10
Source: ONS Opinions Survey 2009
Source: Department for Transport’s Annual Sample Survey of Bus Operators
Source: British Social Attitudes Survey 2010
Source: British Crime Survey 2009/10
Source: British Crime Survey 2009/10
Source: English House Condition Survey 2008
Source: Survey of English Housing 2007/08

Page last reviewed: 13 December 2011