Inclusive statistics: A disaggregation of indicators by disability status and its implications for policy

Disability has received limited attention on the global data and social policy scene. There are few global data portals or indices tracking the socioeconomic situation of persons with disabilities. Global social policy initiatives tend to focus on disability benefits, while other social policies may impact the situation of persons with disabilities. The absence of internationally comparable data and tools to measure disability could explain this lack of attention until recently. Given progress with respect to measuring disability, this article set out to find out if human development indicators can be disaggregated by disability status using census and mainstream survey data and, if they can, consider what such disaggregation reveals regarding the socioeconomic situation of persons with disabilities and derive implications for social policies. Disability status is measured through self-reports of functional difficulties (e.g. seeing, hearing). For 19 low- and middle-income countries, the median prevalence stands at 13% among adults aged 15 years and older, and at 28% among households. We could disaggregate a range of human development indicators across disability status for all countries. There are consistent inequalities associated with disability, particularly in terms of educational attainment, employment population ratio, multidimensional poverty, and food security. At the same time, we find that not all persons with functional difficulties experience deprivations. Results in this article on the prevalence of functional difficulties and their association with socioeconomic deprivations show that disability should be central to social policies globally. More data collection, research, and policy work are needed to curb the inequalities associated with disability.