The facts listed below illustrates the linkages between poverty and disability on a global scale. If you do not find figures for your region or country elsewhere, these might be helpful in convincing other parties. However, these statistics should not be used if the actual situation in your country is substantially different:

• One person in 20 worldwide has a disability, of which more than three out of five live in a developing country (UN figures).
• One in five of the world’s poorest have a disability (World Bank estimate).
• Only 2% of people with disabilities in developing countries have access to rehabilitation and appropriate basic services.
• 20 million women a year suffer disability and long-term complications as a result of pregnancy and childbirth.
• 2% to 10% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school (UNESCO estimate).
• The global literacy rate for adults with disabilities is as low as 3 per cent, and 1 per cent for women with disabilities, according to a 1998 UNDP study.
• 25% of the entire population worldwide is directly or indirectly affected by disability (UN figures).
• Over 100 million girls and women in more than 28 African countries alone are disabled as a result of female genital mutilation.
• Mortality for children with disabilities may be as high as 80% in countries where under-five mortality as a whole has decreased to below 20%.
• 7 to 10% of the population has a disability, with country differences ranging from 4 to 20% (WHO figures).
• More than 10% of the world’s population has a disability (USAID figures).
• In High Human Development (HHD) countries, 9.9% of the population has a disability; in Medium Human Development countries (MHD) the percentage drops to 3.7%; and in Low Human Development (LHD) countries, falls to just 1.0% (UNDP figures).
• Depending on the estimate, between 281.7 million and 608.4 million persons worldwide have a disability, of which 112.5 to 490.5 million live in developing countries.
• US$ 1.71-2.23 trillion of global GDP is lost because of disability, which adds up to a rate of between 5.35% and 6.97%.
• Persons with disabilities make up 15-20% of the poor in developing countries (World Bank figures).
• 82% of persons with disabilities live below the poverty line in developing countries (UN figures).
• According to UNICEF, 30% of street youths are disabled.
• An estimated 386 million of the world’s working-age people are disabled, says the International Labour Organization (ILO). Unemployment among the disabled is as high as 80% in some countries. Often employers assume that persons with disabilities are unable to work.
• For every child killed in warfare, three are injured and permanently disabled.
• In some countries, up to a quarter of disabilities result from injuries and violence, according to the WHO.
• Research indicates that violence against children with disabilities occurs at annual rates at least 1.7 times greater than for their non-disabled peers.