Disability facts and figures

Number of disabled people

There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK.

• 8% of children are disabled
• 19% of working age adults are disabled
• 44% of pension age adults are disabled

Source: Family Resources Survey (2018 to 19)

Employment

More than 4.1 million disabled people are in work.

Disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people.

Source: Labour Force Survey April to June 2020

Extra costs

Life costs you £583 more on average a month if you're disabled.

Source: Scope - The disability price tag (2019)

Poverty

After housing costs, the proportion of working age disabled people living in poverty (26%) is higher than the proportion of working age non-disabled people (20%).

Source: Scope's analysis based on Households Below Average Income (2017 to 18)
 

Spending power

The total spending power of families with at least one disabled person is estimated at £274 billion a year.

Source: Scope's analysis based on Household Below Average Income (2017 to 18)

Attitudes

• 1 in 3 disabled people feel there’s a lot of disability prejudice.
• 1 in 3 people see disabled people as being less productive than non-disabled people.
• In 2000, 37% of disabled people and 34% of non-disabled people felt that there was a lot of prejudice around disability. The gap trebled by 2017, with 32% of disabled people and 22% of non-disabled people feeling there is a lot of prejudice against disabled people.

Source: Scope - Disability Perception Gap (2018)

Government statistics on disability

UK Government disability facts and figures

Scope's research work

Scope carries out research to develop policy so we can campaign to create a fairer society for disabled people.

Research, policy and campaigning work