Disability Prevalence and Correlates in Pakistan: A Demographic Analysis

The paper provides a demographic view of disability patterns in Pakistan, and also highlights the inadequacies and inconsistencies of data, especially those provided by the census. Besides assessing the prevalence of disability by age, gender considerations, nature of disability and reasons of disability, the paper examines such features among the disabled population as their work participation, training, self-sufficiency and dependence on the help of the others. Even though the estimates of disability worked out from the 1984-85 Survey of Disabled Population are relatively more realistic, the need for broadening and standardisation of the concepts and adoption of improved survey procedures for better coverage and diagnostics is clearly evident. The high prevalence of disability and the fact mat nearly half of the total disabilities occur due to disease, more than a third are by birth, and about 15 percent are due to accidents, clearly point towards the need for preventive and curative health facilities and imparting of proper awareness among the people. The association of disability prevalence with the prevailing conditions of fertility, health, education and socio-economic circumstances, observed from the results have important policy implications for the country. The study which has attempted to provide a view of disability patterns in Pakistan, and to highlight some of the covariates of disability rate, represents a beginning of a demographic concern in this important area.