Disabled people are a group of the population that includes persons with disabilities due to health conditions. Today there are quite a lot of such people. Previously, disability statistics didn't make much difference. Now it is being carried out very carefully. Statistics allow us not only to count the number of people with disabilities, but also provide information about their lives, difficulties, and needs.
These data are important for national policy. They allow us to assess how high-quality and effective programs for people with disabilities are implemented in the country.
The statistics of people with disabilities in the world is 23% of the total population of the planet. This is approximately more than 1 billion. According to WHO, the number of disabled people increases every year. Reasons for the increase in the number of people with disabilities:
In countries where people live 70 years or more, many people become incapacitated in old age. Among children and middle-aged people, 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries, where the population has low levels of and. The picture shows what percentage of people with disabilities are out of the total number of inhabitants in European countries.
Disability among children is a huge problem. Not only medical and social, but also economic. There are more and more people with disabilities in the world. This is a worrying trend. According to scientists, the numbers will continue to rise.
The International Labor Organization reports that among the working-age population, almost 400 million are disabled. Many of them don't work anywhere. Most employers consider them incompetent. According to statistics, only 20% of the total number of working people are disabled. The remaining 80% are .
For example, in India, there are 70 million people with disabilities and only 0.1 million of them managed to get a job. In the United States, only 35% of employed citizens are in this category.
Many people with disabilities claim that they would like to work and receive a decent salary for it, but they are hardly accepted anywhere.
The statistics of disabled people in Russia in 2015 numbered more than 12 million people. Almost half of them are men and women of working age. That is, for every 10 thousand people there are approximately 59 citizens of the incapacitated category. Among them, the majority belong to the third group. There are fewer representatives of the first group.
An analysis of the statistics of disabled people across the country shows that we have much fewer of them than in European countries. Domestic indicators are among the lowest in the world. But this is not a reason to be proud. The reason lies not in the fact that our fellow citizens have excellent health. In Russia, in order to receive and then annually confirm their disability, people with disabilities often have to fight an imperfect system. Many patients are simply denied incapacity. Doctors often demand for disability registration.
The diagram shows statistics of disabled people in the Russian Federation. It shows how the number of people with disabilities living in Russia changed from 1995 to 2005.
So, statistics on the number of disabled people in Russia and the world indicate that the number of disabled inhabitants of the planet is steadily increasing. This is a global problem for all humanity. Government officials should think about improving the situation.
Federal State Statistics Service
According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the number of disabled people in the Russian Federation at the beginning of 2015 was 12,924,000 people, of which 3 adults were disabled. – 4,492,000 people, 2 gr. – 6,472,000 people, 1 gr. – 1.355.000 thousand people.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation, the number of wheelchair users in Russia is 320 thousand people (group 1). Some of them use a cane or crutches to get around (they only come to MTU in wheelchairs).
The number of disabled children under the age of 18 is 605 thousand people. Judging by the dynamics, this figure is increasing every year.
As of 2015, there are 133 specialized institutions for disabled children in the Russian Federation, where 21,000 people live permanently. There are also boarding schools for disabled adults in Russia. Their number is 1,354. from 248 thousand residents (some of whom are wheelchair users).
In our country there is no unified database for recording people with cerebral palsy and its consequences. It is difficult to assess the possible scale of the actual number of disabled people with this category, but according to the Moscow Department of Social Protection of the Population in 2010, the number of children with cerebral palsy was about 4,500 people, and 1,700 adults. Also, 1,350 children, 20,650 adults for the same period, had congenital pathology of the musculoskeletal system, but ITU specialists did not see signs of cerebral palsy in it. As a result, 28,200 people in Moscow have pronounced physiological deficiencies. According to our assumptions, this figure will increase if we add people with speech impediments (for example, stuttering), spasticity and other manifestations that impede communication with the outside world.
The Livada Center found that at the beginning of 2015, 73% of parents agreed that their child should study in a class with a disabled person, 17% disagreed, and 10% found it difficult to answer. That is, a third of the school community (classmates) in one way or another puts pressure on a disabled child, and some of the 17% can potentially cause him physical and moral harm.
According to the FSGS data, as of 2015, 12,369 people with disabilities are studying in medium-sized state and municipal institutions in Russia. There are 16,768 people with disabilities studying in higher education institutions. Statistics are not provided for non-state educational institutions. The majority of disabled people receive higher or secondary education on a general basis, as this simplifies their admission to an educational institution, but statistics are not kept on them in this way (mostly these are citizens with 3 and 2 degrees of disability).
As we see, because of stereotypes in society, millions of people suffer who could become leading employees in industries important to the economy, since according to Rosstat, 51.8% of disabled people aged 15 years and older noted that, if possible, , can lead an active lifestyle like everyone else. The potential of such people is off the charts and has not yet been tapped by anyone.
Prepared by Chebotarev Nazim for the Social Impact Award.
The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation estimates the target group of social policy regarding people with disabilities as 40 million people, including all low-mobility groups of citizens of our country. From region to region, people note the impossibility of simply leaving home; they only dream of real mobility. Director of the Orthodoxy and Peace charity foundation Evgeniy Glagolev talks about an interesting study.
Evgeniy Glagolev
This year, a study by the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) entitled “Disability and the social status of disabled people in Russia” was published, and this event went unnoticed. It seems that only one media outlet mentioned it, and I came across it by accident. Meanwhile, on 256 pages of this three-year work of the academy staff there is very important information that would be useful to know for a wide range of people, and not just specialists.
The authors were interested in specific data on the real socio-economic situation of people with disabilities in Russia, the problems of collecting and analyzing information and the effectiveness of the state in this area. The main part of the work is based on in-depth sociological surveys conducted by the Institute of Social Forecasting and Analysis of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration over three years: from 2014 to 2016, and the survey included disabled people themselves and their relatives. The output was data that is extremely important for all of us, because the study reveals significant problems in the state’s social policy based on specific figures.
In 2006, Russia signed and in 2012 ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the UN General Assembly. To date, this document has been signed and ratified by the vast majority of countries in the world. Ratification implies that our state must bring its domestic social policy towards people with disabilities into line with international standards.
Since 2011, there have been big changes in our country: changes in legislation, adoption of new norms, implementation of the “Accessible Environment” project. In particular, a special website has been created with open information about the number of disabled people in Russia: if at the time of the study there were 12.5 million disabled people in the country, then according to information from the “Federal Register of Disabled Persons” at the time of writing this article there were significantly fewer of them - 11.5 million people It would seem that we are seeing a significant decrease in the number of disabled people and this should give us confidence that everything is fine in our country with the prevention of disability, but let's take a closer look at the numbers and what stands behind them.
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has formed the basis for the definition of disability in the global community. Functioning is a key concept of the classification and is considered at three levels: organism (functions and structures of the body) – person (activity, performance of tasks and actions) – society (inclusion and involvement in life).
Disability according to the ICF is an impairment or limitation of functioning at one or more of these three levels.
In 2012, Russia changed the criteria for determining disability, but did not bring them to the UN recommended standards.
In addition, the researchers identified the deepest problems in collecting information about people with disabilities and their situation in our country and came to the conclusion that, in general, federal statistical observation does not make it possible to solve any of the problems of collecting data on disability, including the main one - assessing well-being and equality of opportunity for people with disabilities.
For example, in countries such as England or Germany, there is the concept of “registered disability”, when a person applies for official disabled status, but at the same time constant surveys are carried out and people with functional limitations are identified, and in general statistics on the number and The status of disabled people in these countries includes not only registered disabled people, but also those who have health limitations but do not have an official status.
It is important to understand this in order to determine the quality and level of healthcare in the country, the load on the work of social services, but first of all in order to adequately assess the number of disabled people in Russia, especially when the Ministry of Labor declares that a decrease in the number of disabled people in the country not related to the work of medical and social examination. At the same time, the authors say that the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation estimates the target group of social policy regarding people with disabilities as 40 million people, including all groups of citizens of our country with limited mobility.
What happens? Almost 12 million disabled people in Russia are 8% of the total population, while this is 20% more than in Germany, if we take into account the given coefficient, but Germany, when determining the number of disabled people, takes into account not only those who officially applied for such status, but also all people with a functional limitation, but we are not! It turns out that it is beneficial for the state not to apply international standards when reporting on the reduction in the number of disabled people, otherwise it will not cope with social policy at all.
By the way, the authors identified some “regional peculiarities” in issuing disabled status in our country. For example, in a number of Russian republics, almost 100% of requests for disability are satisfied, while in others this figure is lower. The authors suggest that this may be due to the sociocultural characteristics of obtaining additional income by residents of these republics - and recommend paying attention to such obvious discrepancies.
As for the employment of disabled people, we see that only 16% of their total number work. Another 16% would like to, and all the rest do not even consider this possibility. This point highlights several problems.
The first is the lack of truly equipped workplaces for people with disabilities, and the second is the lack of belief that if you have a disability you can work and earn an income. Knowing the level of salaries in the regions, we can assume that it is much easier to receive a disability pension than to work where there are no conditions and the pay is not much more than the pension itself.
And, of course, let’s not forget that our society is still not ready to accept people with disabilities as a full part of itself. This affects everything: how they communicate with people with disabilities in state and municipal authorities (and people complain about bad attitude towards them by officials) and how you and I, healthy people, perceive an accessible environment.
After all, what is an “accessible environment”? It's not just the ramps that people in wheelchairs say are impossible to use. This is also the attitude of society towards people with various disabilities.
We often do not allow the idea that a person with mental or physical disabilities can be not just an example of heroic overcoming difficult life situations, but also be in our eyes an equal member of society who is able to work.
It’s great that the authors of the work learned the real problems and expectations of people with disabilities throughout the country. From region to region, people note the inability to simply leave the house, not to mention the lack of leisure centers tailored to their needs.
That there is no real inclusion and so far these are just slogans. That specialized medical centers are far away, they often offer not what a particular person needs, but what they have is of very low quality, like medicines that are constantly in short supply or on which they skimp. That they only dream of real mobility.
Look for yourself, judging by the numbers, each of us will be faced with the illness of a relative or our own illness, which in one way or another limits our physical capabilities. Look at the main causes of disability in the population - these are precisely diseases: cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Most recently, Dmitry turned to our foundation for help. He wrote that he was involved in the Paralympic sport of wheelchair rugby. His team has a great desire to go to the competition in Poland, but there is not enough funding, so Dima decided to contact us.
Dmitry Khamov
We recently opened the “Not Disabled” program, one of the goals of which is to help people with disabilities: when it is already clear that they cannot be cured, but they can be helped to integrate into society. The program was born as a natural continuation of our targeted assistance in rehabilitation - a huge number of people get into road accidents, tens of thousands die and are injured. Some people need expensive rehabilitation, and we help with this, but some people lose the ability to walk and need completely different help. Therefore, we responded, and I decided to meet Dima in person.
10 years ago, Dmitry’s car skidded while turning and was carried into a tree standing next to the road. Severe head injury, long rehabilitation, Dima was still unable to walk. We didn’t talk about the difficult experiences of a guy who loses a lot at the age of 21, what’s important is what we have now. In 2012, he came to wheelchair rugby - a new Paralympic sport for Russia - and is still involved in rugby.
To grow in sports, you need to have constant practice of competing with equal and stronger opponents. However, the Russian wheelchair rugby team consists of 80% of the Moscow team - we have practically no competition in our country. The state provides money for rating competitions, for example, the European Championship. But to win this tournament, you need to grow, and who do we fight with to become stronger? So the guys go at their own expense to other tournaments where high-level teams meet, but there is not enough money.
Training
After meeting with Dima, I went to the national team training. Captain - Valery Krivov. In 2003, when he was only 14 years old, he received a “diver” injury - like all the guys, Valera went swimming and jumping into the water, and one day a terrible thing happened - he broke his neck. Next - another life, from which only 2 friends remained, the rest turned away and left. He graduated from school with home schooling and entered a technical school. Valery got married and moved to Moscow after the injury, came to sports and became a multiple champion of Russia in Paralympic athletics, and then he was invited to rugby, where he remained.
Sergey Glushakov
The senior coach of the national team, Sergei Glushakov, is also the president of the Moscow Wheelchair Rugby Federation. Before the accident in 2003, he worked in construction and was involved in the reconstruction of airports. Then the same story: rehabilitation, meeting other guys, joining a sport from which you no longer want to leave - everyone says that sport changes the consciousness of a disabled person, that he grows above himself, his condition and problems, which, nevertheless, , remain.
Dmitry does not have the opportunity to live in a Moscow apartment - there are steps in the entrance and there is no lift, because according to the standards it is impossible to install one. Dima himself believes that it is possible to install it, he has already seen lifts in the same entrances, but, in his opinion, people who are far from the needs of disabled people sit on the commission, and issues are considered formally. That’s why Dima now lives in Domodedovo with his parents - after all, he won’t be able to climb the stairs on his own. The authorities have installed a ramp, but it is also impossible to drive in and out without assistance.
Active wheelchairs, which allow people who are unable to walk to move around on their own, are expensive. According to the statistics that I know, among all disabled people in wheelchairs, an insignificant percentage of people move in this way. The rest use what the state gives. Example: the cost of an ordinary stroller is 13,000 rubles. With active use, within the first year it begins to fall apart and requires constant repair. A good German one costs 80,000 rubles, and an active type costs from 150,000. The state compensates only 54,000, that is, you have to buy the stroller yourself, and then they will return part of the money to you.
I look at them and can’t help but think that I see heroes. I don’t like this word, but you can’t call it anything other than a heroic overcoming of circumstances. I really want to help them go to the competition in Poland, where teams from different countries will meet, including those they will have to fight with at the European tournament.
The goal is to get to the Paralympics in 2020, for this you need to improve your playing level. I believe they can. Despite all the statistics, the real state of affairs and forced heroism. After all, everyone wants to be just people, not heroes. Playing wheelchair rugby is not despite, but because of.
And I really want people to be able to choose what to do, even if they can’t walk. So that everyone can leave the house, so that inclusion is real and the ramps are not made for us - healthy people, who, looking at these often useless structures, would think that something is being done for the disabled, but so that they can actually slide down and drive in . To ensure that the queues for installing a lift in the entrances do not stretch for 5 years, it should not be the case that a person cannot leave the house for 5 years. And so that the state looks at problems and gaps in working with people with disabilities as facts, goals and tasks to be solved, and not shyly hides real numbers behind beautiful reporting.
In the meantime, we have to raise money - like this, through funds, to help those who have already embarked on their difficult path to go through it to the end. We just need to help.
Globally, more than one billion people (15% of the population) suffer from various forms of disability. According to a WHO study, 785 million people aged 15 years and older live with a disability, of which 110 million suffer from severe forms of the disorder. Among children aged 0 to 14 years, these figures are 95 million and 13 million, respectively.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this figure is increasing due to the aging of the population and the increasing number of people suffering from chronic diseases directly related to disability: diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, etc.
In countries where life expectancy exceeds 70 years, the disability years account for an average of about 8 years, representing 11.5% of a person's total life expectancy.
The years associated with disability account for an average of about 8 years, which is 11.5% of a person's total life expectancy
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), groups with lower levels of education have higher rates of disability. The average for OECD countries is 19%, compared with 11% among people with higher levels of education. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries.
Comparative studies of disability laws indicate that only 45 countries have anti-discrimination and other laws affecting persons with disabilities. At the same time, there are a number of international provisions and standards that are of an informational or advisory nature.
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) - developed by WHO and adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 22, 2001. The document describes the concept of “disability” in relation to physical health (body condition), the individual and society as a whole. The structure of the ICF is based on an assessment of the functions and condition of the human body, the level of social activity and participation in public life.
Features of the ICF approach to the concepts of “health” and “disability” are a shift in focus from the cause of the disease and its consequences to the assessment of all components of health, including the social aspects of disability and “contextual” factors (environment and personal characteristics). The main idea set out in the document is that every person can experience deterioration in health, and the limitations in opportunities that arise in connection with this are not a characteristic phenomenon only for a certain social group.
Every person can experience deterioration in health, and the resulting limitations in opportunities are not a characteristic phenomenon only for a certain social group.
According to the ICF, a disorder is the loss or abnormality of a specific physiological function or part of the body. The term “disability” is used to refer to individual differences in functioning associated with physiological, sensory, mental and perceptual impairments, as well as various types of chronic diseases. Disability is considered in relation to three main aspects: organs and related functions and dysfunctions: paralysis, blindness, etc.; activity and activity limitations: inability to stand or sit, etc.; social activity and its limitations: discrimination in hiring, difficulties when moving around the city, etc.
Types (categories) of disability include various physiological and mental impairments that make it difficult or impossible for a person to perform everyday activities, as well as complicate communication with others.
Mobility impairments can be congenital or acquired with age. They can also be the consequences of illness or injury. For example, people who have suffered a broken limb also fall into this category.
Spinal cord injuries often lead to lifelong health problems. As a rule, damage occurs as a result of serious accidents. Damage may be complete or incomplete. In case of incomplete damage, the conductive capacity of the nerve fibers of the spinal cord is partially preserved. In some cases, the damage may be the result of a birth injury.
Head injuries are disorders of the brain. Damage to the brain leads to disruptions in its functioning. The two main types of injuries are acquired and traumatic, and the degree of injury varies from mild to severe. The first type of damage is not congenital, but occurs after birth. The second type of damage is mainly caused by the influence of external influences: road traffic and domestic accidents, sports injuries, criminal incidents, recreational injuries, etc. Traumatic injuries can lead to emotional dysfunction and behavioral disorders.
Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from vision problems ranging from minor to severe. Some disorders can lead to blindness over time. Most often, visual impairment is caused by damage to the cornea of the eye, damage to the white membrane of the eye, diseases caused by diabetes, dry eyes, and corneal transplants.
Hearing loss can be partial or complete. Deafness can be congenital or develop with age due to illness. For example, meningitis can cause damage to the auditory nerve or cochlea.
Perceptual disorders include dyslexia, various difficulties in acquiring knowledge, and speech disorders.
Affective disorders- short-term or long-term mood or well-being disorders.
Mental disorders- a term that is used to describe the condition of people suffering from psychological problems or diseases, such as: personality disorders - inappropriate patterns of behavior, in such severe forms that they do not allow a person to lead everyday life, socialize and, in general, maintain a normal lifestyle.
Schizophrenia- a mental disorder associated with the breakdown of thinking processes and emotional reactions.
Invisible violations differ in that they cannot be instantly recognized by others. As a rule, they have a neurological etiology. For example, not all people with visual impairments wear glasses, some experience chronic back pain when sitting or constant fatigue, suffer from sleep disorders, depression or agoraphobia, etc. According to statistics, 10% of US residents suffer from this type of impairment.
Global Burden of Disease (GBD) is a group of indicators characterizing mortality and disability from major diseases, injuries and their risk factors. These indicators were identified as a result of comprehensive regional and/or global health statistical studies of the World Health Organization.
WHO measures the global burden of disease (GBD) in years of life lost due to disability (DALYs). This time measure combines years of life lost due to premature mortality and years of life lost due to health conditions that do not meet criteria for full health. DALYs were developed during the original 1990 GBD study to provide a consistent estimate of the burden of disease by disease, risk factor and region.
Table 1. World population with moderate and severe disabilities by region, gender and age. Data from the Global Burden of Disease Study, 2004 estimates
High income countries- these are countries whose Gross National Income (GNI) in 2004 was $10,066 or more (according to World Bank estimates).
Low income countries- these are countries whose Gross National Income (GNI) in 2004 was less than $10,066 (according to World Bank estimates).
The classification of diseases by form is given in Table 2. We propose hereinafter to consider a severe form of disability as an analogue of disability group I according to the classification accepted in the Russian Federation, and a moderate form as disability group II.
The severity coefficient is calculated for both sexes and all age categories for the entire world population. In some cases, one person may experience pathologies of varying degrees of severity; in this case, he is assigned up to seven classes of disability. Severe disability corresponds to classes VI and VII, moderate - from III and above.
Table 2. Classification of disability groups in the Global Burden of Disease Study, showing chronic diseases and complications for each class
The most common causes of disability worldwide are adult-onset hearing loss and refractive hearing loss. Mental disorders such as depression, alcohol use disorders, and mental disorders (such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia) are also among the 20 leading causes of disability. The picture between high- and low-income countries differs. In low-income countries, many more people are disabled due to preventable causes, such as unintentional injuries and infertility resulting from unsafe abortion and maternal sepsis. Also, in low-income countries, disability due to unintentional injuries among young people and cataracts among older people are much more common.
Table 3. Prevalence of moderate and severe disability (millions) for key disabling diseases by age for high-, middle-, and low-income countries, Global Burden of Disease, 2004 estimates.
Global aging has a significant impact on the development of disability. Higher rates of disability among older people reflect the fulfillment of accumulated health risks through injuries and chronic diseases.
Table 4. Age-specific prevalence of disability by level of gross national product
Table 5. Age prevalence of disability by gender
The prevalence of disability is higher among people 45 years of age and older in low-income countries than in high-income countries, and higher among women than among men.
Table 7. Distribution of the number of people with disabilities by age using the example of Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, USA (%)
In Europe, social spending aimed at helping older people is designed to mitigate the risks that arise with old age - lower income levels, insufficient income, loss of independence in carrying out daily activities, decreased participation in social life, etc. At the same time, spending for medical care for the elderly should be classified as another expense item - in connection with illness and the need for treatment. However, it is not always easy to strictly distinguish between them. In most EU countries, social spending in three areas - old age, death of a family member and disability - is highly interdependent. In order to ensure better comparability, expenses for assistance in connection with old age and in the event of the death of a family member are often combined, considering them together.
In 2007, social payments and benefits amounted to 25.2% of GDP in the EU-27
In 2007, social payments and benefits (excluding administrative costs and other expenses) amounted to 25.2% of GDP in the EU-27. The largest number of payments and benefits were sent to assistance in connection with old age and the death of a family member - 46.2% of all social benefits and payments, or 11.7% of GDP, as well as in case of illness and the need for treatment - 29.1 % of total social payments and benefits in the EU-27, or 7.4% of GDP. 6.1% of GDP was spent on all payments in other areas of social protection.
Figure 1. Social benefits and payments provided in the EU-27 in 2007, by purpose,%
Table 6. Amount and terms of disability payments per person per month,,
About 15% of the world's population has some form of disability. Of these, 2-4% of people experience significant difficulties in functioning. The prevalence of disability worldwide is higher than previous WHO estimates made in the 1970s, at approximately 10%. Global disability estimates are rising due to aging populations and the rapid spread of chronic diseases, as well as improvements in methodologies used to measure disability rates.
The first-ever WHO/World Bank World Report on Disability examines the evidence on the status of people with disabilities around the world. Following chapters on understanding and measuring disability, the report contains chapters on specific health topics; rehabilitation; help and support; an enabling environment; education; and employment. Each chapter discusses the barriers faced by people with disabilities, as well as case studies on how countries are addressing these challenges by promoting good practice. The report's final chapter makes nine specific recommendations for policy and practice that can lead to real improvements in the lives of people with disabilities.
The report summary contains the main ideas and recommendations. The report summary is available in easy-to-read, audio and screen reader formats. Braille versions (English, Spanish and French) can be ordered from:
