Technical Note on Statistical Data

Arab countries are changing their approach to disability statistics. By transitioning to the method recommended by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) in censuses and surveys, they achieve a more uniform definition of disability for statistical purposes.

The WG defines persons with disabilities as those at greater risk than the general population of experiencing restrictions in performing specific tasks or participating in role activities due to limitations in basic activity functioning - such as walking, seeing, hearing, or remembering - even if such limitations are ameliorated by using assistive devices, a supportive environment or plentiful resources. The WG’s first priority was the development of a Short Set of questions (WG-SS) suitable for censuses and surveys. The purpose of this is to disaggregate the population by disability status in order to ascertain if persons with disabilities are participating equally in all aspects of society. The WG-SS addresses six functional domains: seeing, hearing, walking, cognition, self-care, and communication. These were selected based on two criteria. First, they cover the large majority of functional limitations that people might have. Second, they are functional domains that can be adequately captured with a single question.

The second priority was to develop an Extended Set of questions on functioning (WG-ES) to be used in surveys to capture more extensive information on disability. The WG-ES was designed to add additional functional domains to identify persons with disabilities who are not captured by the WG-SS. These additional domains include upper body mobility, psychosocial functioning, pain and fatigue. In addition, questions were added to collect more information on existing domains (e.g., walking a short distance and walking a longer distance) to better capture the continuum of functioning. 

Statistical offices in countries participating in ESCWA data collection that have not adopted the WG-SS (Bahrain and Mauritania) have aligned their national response categories with those of the WG.[1]

Significant variations in disability prevalence reported globally are in part due to different definitions, connected with different cut-off points. Some countries may prefer to include persons who report “some difficulty” into their national register of persons with disabilities. Variations across countries also depend on whether countries chose to include all residents in the data collection or only the national population.

Notes: LFS, labour force survey; DHS, Demographic and Health Surveys; HBS, household budget survey; I-PMM, Iraq Poverty Mapping and Maternal Mortality Survey; and PAPFAM, Pan Arab Project for Family Health. Qatar, Tunis and Egypt (WG) in addition to the Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic (Non-WG), are in process of being completed. Data are published once received and verified by ESCWA. ESCWA is contacting the rest of the countries to complete and share the data. Data for Oman and Saudi Arabia pertain to nationals only.