Facts and Figures
Below are some interesting facts and figures that you may not be aware of:
- Nearly one in five people of working age (6.9 million – or 19%) in Great Britain is disabled.
- Almost half (46%) of the disabled population of working age in Britain are vocationally inactive, i.e. outside the labour force.
- Only 15% of people without disabilities of working age are vocationally inactive.
- Nearly one third of people with disabilities who are vocationally inactive say they would like to work (28%), compared with less than one quarter (23%) of vocationally inactive people without disabilities.
- Disability is often associated with wheelchairs but only 5% of people with disabilities actually use wheelchairs.
- Mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety (both of which – amongst others – are classed as disabilities if they are persistent/recurrent) now account for more benefit claims than back pain.
- One in four people will be affected by a mental health problem during the course of their life.
- At least one in four potential customers of any business in the UK either has a disability themselves or is close to someone who has.
- Employment rates vary greatly according to the type of impairment a person with a disability has. People with mental health problems have the lowest employment rates of all impairment categories at only 20%.
- By the year 2010, 40% of the UK population will be over 45; the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly.
- The estimated combined annual purchasing power of people with disabilities in the UK is £80 billion.
