2.8% of total population have disabilities: BBS

The number of persons with disabilities in the country is 46.2 lakh, which is 2.8% of the total population, revealed a recent survey.

Among them, 26.8 lakh are male and 19.3 lakh are female, according to the National Survey of Persons with Disabilities (NSPD) published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Tuesday (27 December).

Among the people with special needs, 1.35% – the highest – suffer from physical disabilities. Other types of disability include - visual disability, hearing disability, multiple disability, speech disability, mental illness disability, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy disability, and autism.

Some of the most cited reasons of disability are – congenital (41.09%), illness or disease (36.35%), falling from tree or rooftop (12.27%) and road accidents (5.53%), said the report.

The survey findings are prepared based on the information collected from 36,000 sampled households throughout the country.

According to the survey, Khulna division has the highest rate and Sylhet division has the lowest rate of disability. 

The report said around one-third of the disabled persons aged 15-64 years are employed. Most of them are self-employed, while the others work at home or family businesses and private organisations.

Among the disabled persons aged three years or above, 54.74% have no formal education. In the 2021 academic year, 32.6 % of disabled persons aged 5-24 years received formal education.

Only 2.66% of disabled persons received some sort of professional training like tutoring in computer skills, readymade garments sector jobs, handicraft production or cottage work.

Almost 62% of disabled persons received healthcare services in three months preceding the survey. Besides, 92.3% of them received healthcare services in the twelve months preceding the interview.

Moreover, 47% of the disabled persons received some sort of allowance at any time, while 43.35% received allowances under the government's social safety net programme in the six months preceding the survey.

The survey shows that 43.7% of the persons with disabilities have felt discriminated against or harassed.

Around 90.5% of the disabled persons who felt discriminated or harassed said mainly their neighbors were responsible for such incidents. Besides, their relatives, friends and family members were also responsible for discrimination.