Prevalence of People with Physical, Mental and Intellectual Disabilities

33 Dr Shahira Abdullah asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what are the current total number and prevalence rate of people with physical disabilities, mental and intellectual disabilities, with these figures also divided according to age.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The latest estimates of disability prevalence that we have are based on Census 2020. For the first time, we collected data on the estimated proportion of persons who were unable to perform or had a lot of difficulty performing at least one basic activity of living. The census adopted the guidelines from the United Nations Statistics Division's Washington Group on Disability Statistics, which is internationally recognised for disability measures suitable for censuses and national surveys. However, the questions do not use the term "disability" and therefore cover a broader group than the definition used in our Enabling Masterplans.

The data from the census, across different age groups, is as follows: