Disability Statistics

Breakdown

• 360,000 people are registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK [1]
• There are 1.86 million people in the UK with sight loss that has a significant impact on their daily lives. This upwards trend is expected to continue [1]
• There are over 11 million people with a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability in Great Britain [2]
• Nearly one in five people of working age (7 million, or 18.6%) in Great Britain have a disability. [3]
• The annual spending power of disabled adults in Britain covered by the DDA is estimated at £80 billion per year. [4]
• 11.6 million of the UK’s population is under 16 years of ages. [5]
• There are 770,000 disabled children under the age of 16 in the UK. That equates to 1 child in 20. [6]
• The percentage of the population aged 65 and over was the highest seen in any census at 16.4%, that is one in six people [7]
• The prevalence of disability rises with age. 45% of adults over State Pension age have a disability [8]
• 1 in 6 people in the UK struggle with literacy. This means their literacy is below the level expected of an eleven year old [9]
• 1in 6 people in the UK are still unable to read, write or add up [10]

References

• 1 - RNIB.org, RNIB Sight Loss UK 2012 Report
• 2 - Family Resources survey 2010/11
• 3 - Office for National Statistics (Labour Force Survey, Jan - March 2009
• 4 - ODI, 2012 Legacy for disabled people: Inclusive and Accessible Business.
• 5 - House of Commons, Population ageing statistics Feb 2012
• 6 - Contact a family 2012
• 7 - ONS 2011 Census
• 8 - ODIFamily Resources Survey 2010/11
• 9 - National Literacy Trust, State of the Nation, A picture of literacy in the UK today, January 2012
• 10 - Leitch Report 2006

In more detail

For an in-depth look into the findings outlined in the breakdown above please download the attached document.

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