Physical disability is measured in several ways, and the figures below distinguish mobility and self-care limitations from the broader disability umbrella. Together, the data describe global scale, U.S. functional prevalence, geographic variation, access barriers, employment, education, and overlapping impairments.
Key Physical Disability Statistics
The most broadly useful figures include:
- About 1.3 billion people worldwide experienced significant disability in the current estimate reported in 2023.
- Significant disability affected 16% of the global population, or about 1 in 6 people, in the current estimate reported in 2023.
- Some people with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than people without disabilities, according to evidence summarized in 2023.
- More than 61 million U.S. adults, or about 1 in 4, reported a disability in CDC data for 2022.
- About 1 in 7 U.S. adults reported mobility disability in 2022.
- Almost 1 in 5 U.S. adults ages 45–64 had mobility disability in 2022.
- About 1 in 4 U.S. adults age 65 and older had mobility disability in 2022.
- Mobility-disability prevalence ranged from 5.9% to 34.9% across U.S. counties in model-based estimates for 2018.
- 14.4% of U.S. adults with a disability lacked reliable transportation for daily living in 2022, compared with 4.9% of adults without a disability.
- 24.0% of U.S. adults with a disability ages 18–44 lacked reliable transportation in 2022, compared with 5.7% without a disability.
- People with disabilities accounted for about 13% of the U.S. population age 16 and older in the 2025 annual average.
- The 2025 employment-population ratio was 22.8% for people with disabilities, compared with 65.2% for people without disabilities.
- About 24% of U.S. people with disabilities age 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2025, compared with about 42% of people without disabilities.
- About 30% of employed U.S. people with disabilities usually worked part time in 2025, compared with about 17% of workers without disabilities.
- The 2025 unemployment rate was 8.3% for people with disabilities, compared with 4.1% for people without disabilities.
- 68.2% of U.S. adults with vision impairment reported at least one other disability type in 2018, compared with 23.2% without vision impairment.
Contents
- Global physical disability scale
- U.S. physical disability prevalence by function and age
- Physical disability data by population and geography
- Health-care access and transportation barriers
- Employment, education, and work statistics
- Overlapping impairments and outcomes
Global Physical Disability Statistics and the Scale of Significant Disability
The World Health Organization’s current estimate, reported in 2023, places significant disability at 1.3 billion people worldwide, or 16% of the global population. This is a modeled estimate of significant disability, not a count of every physical impairment, and the definition is broader than physical or mobility disability alone. WHO, “Disability”
The WHO also summarizes substantial differences in health and access outcomes:
- Some people with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than people without disabilities. This is an upper-bound comparison across settings, not a universal life-expectancy gap.
- Inaccessible and unaffordable transportation is up to 15 times more limiting for people with disabilities. This describes an environmental barrier across contexts, not disability prevalence.
These global figures should not be combined directly with U.S. survey results. WHO’s modeled estimate concerns significant disability, while U.S. sources use differing survey populations, functional definitions, and reference periods.
U.S. Physical Disability Prevalence by Functional Type and Age
CDC data for 2022 found that more than 61 million U.S. adults, or about 1 in 4, reported a disability. The estimate comes from self-reported functional domains, so it describes the broader disability population rather than physical disability alone. CDC, “Prevalence of Disabilities and Health Care Access by Disability Status and Type Among Adults”
The functional categories are not interchangeable. Mobility disability concerns serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, while self-care and independent-living measures describe other activities; cognitive, hearing, and vision disability are separate domains.
| Functional domain or age group | 2022 U.S. survey estimate |
|---|---|
| Mobility disability, adults | Approximately 1 in 7 |
| Cognitive disability, adults | Approximately 1 in 10 |
| Independent-living disability, adults | Approximately 1 in 15 |
| Hearing disability, adults | Approximately 1 in 17 |
| Vision disability, adults | Approximately 1 in 21 |
| Self-care disability, adults | Approximately 1 in 27 |
| Mobility disability, ages 45–64 | Almost 1 in 5 |
| Mobility disability, age 65+ | About 1 in 4 |
Among young adults, cognitive disability was the most common type in the CDC summary, at about 1 in 10; the summary does not specify a single age cutoff. The age pattern for mobility disability rises from almost 1 in 5 among middle-aged adults ages 45–64 to about 1 in 4 among adults age 65 and older.
Physical Disability Statistics by Population, Race, and Geography
Disability prevalence varies across populations and places, but the measures below are not all physical-disability measures. In 2022 CDC data for adults age 65 and older, self-reported disability was highest among the listed racial categories for American Indian or Alaska Native adults at 54.9%, followed by Hispanic adults at 50.5% and adults in the “other non-Hispanic race or multiracial” category at 49.9%.
These are any-disability estimates, not mobility-only estimates. CDC, “Prevalence of Disabilities and Health Care Access by Disability Status and Type Among Adults”
County-level estimates also show wide geographic ranges. The 2018 study used model-based estimates from BRFSS and Census inputs, so these values should be read as modeled county ranges rather than direct county census counts. CDC Preventing Chronic Disease, “County-Level Geographic Disparities in Disabilities Among US Adults, 2018”
| Disability domain | 2018 county-level range among U.S. adults |
|---|---|
| Hearing disability | 3.5%–15.3% |
| Vision disability | 2.4%–17.2% |
| Cognitive disability | 6.2%–29.4% |
| Mobility disability | 5.9%–34.9% |
| Self-care disability | 1.9%–12.7% |
| Independent-living disability | 3.6%–19.8% |
The range for mobility disability is especially important for local planning because it spans from 5.9% to 34.9% across counties. The six domains remain distinct, and the study’s model-based estimates should not be treated as a single national prevalence rate.
Physical Disability, Health-Care Access, and Transportation Barriers
Transportation access is closely connected to daily living and health-care access. In the 2022 National Health Interview Survey, 5.7% of U.S. adults age 18 and older lacked reliable transportation for daily living during the prior 12 months.
Among adults with a disability, the share was 14.4%, compared with 4.9% among adults without a disability. CDC MMWR, “QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged ≥18 Years Who Lacked Reliable Transportation for Daily Living in the Past 12 Months, by Disability Status and Age Group — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2022”
| Age group | With disability | Without disability |
|---|---|---|
| Ages 18–44 | 24.0% | 5.7% |
| Ages 45–64 | 15.9% | 4.4% |
| Age 65+ | 8.1% | 3.6% |
The NHIS figures cover the civilian noninstitutionalized population and use self-reported disability defined as a lot of difficulty or inability in at least one of six domains. They should not be merged with WHO’s global transportation comparison or with the county model estimates.
A 2018 BRFSS study of adults in the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico found related access differences among adults with vision impairment. Age-adjusted health-insurance coverage was 80.6% with vision impairment versus 87.6% without it, and having a usual health-care provider was 71.9% versus 75.7%. CDC Preventing Chronic Disease, “Health Care Access and Use Among Adults With and Without Vision Impairment: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2018”
Cost was a reported reason for unmet health-care need for 29.2% of adults with vision impairment, compared with 12.6% without vision impairment. A routine checkup in the prior year was reported by 75.6% and 75.2%, respectively, while a dental visit was reported by 52.9% and 67.2%; these are associations and do not establish causation.
Physical Disability Statistics for Employment, Education, and Work
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that people with disabilities accounted for about 13% of the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and older in the 2025 annual average. Half of people with disabilities were age 65 and older, compared with about 18% of people without disabilities, an age difference that affects labor-market comparisons. BLS, “People with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics Summary – 2025 A01 Results”
| Labor-market or education measure | People with disabilities | People without disabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Employment-population ratio, age 16+ | 22.8% | 65.2% |
| Unemployment rate, 2025 | 8.3% | 4.1% |
| Usually worked part time, employed people | About 30% | About 17% |
| Self-employed, employed people | 9.1% | 5.9% |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher, age 25+ | About 24% | About 42% |
| Not in the labor force, age 16+ | About 75% | About 32% |
Among people with disabilities ages 16–64, the employment-population ratio was 38.1% in 2025; among those age 65 and older, it was 7.8%. The unemployment rate applies to labor-force participants, while the not-in-the-labor-force measure includes people who were neither employed nor unemployed.
About 3% of people with disabilities who were not in the labor force wanted a job in 2025, compared with nearly 7% of people without disabilities. Self-employment was 9.1% among employed people with disabilities versus 5.9% among employed people without disabilities, and usually part-time work was about 30% versus about 17%.
Physical Disability Outcomes, Comorbidity, and Overlapping Impairments
Vision impairment is a related functional measure rather than a synonym for physical disability, but the 2018 BRFSS study illustrates how disability domains can overlap. 68.2% of adults with vision impairment reported at least one other disability type, compared with 23.2% of adults without vision impairment.
The “other disability” measure covered at least one of five additional functional domains. CDC Preventing Chronic Disease, “Health Care Access and Use Among Adults With and Without Vision Impairment: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2018”
| Additional reported domain or outcome | With vision impairment | Without vision impairment |
|---|---|---|
| Hearing disability | 22.6% | 5.7% |
| Cognitive disability | 37.3% | 10.0% |
| Mobility disability | 44.9% | 12.0% |
| Self-care disability | 16.5% | 3.1% |
| Independent-living disability | 29.4% | 5.8% |
| Fair or poor general health | 50.2% | 16.8% |
| No leisure-time physical activity | 41.1% | 23.5% |
The study’s findings are cross-sectional associations based on self-reported domains. “No leisure-time physical activity” does not measure total physical activity, and fair or poor general health is self-rated; neither comparison alone identifies a causal pathway.