Causes of Disability

There are large differences between countries concerning the causes of disabilities (figure 7). Methodological divergences similar to those affecting the measurement of disability type – namely that some countries have allowed multiple causes per person and that countries have not used the same categories – may have affected the outcome and reduced the comparability.[1] Only three disability causes for which data are available – congenital, illness and accident – have been included by all seven countries, whereas additional causes are used by some countries but not by others. Iraq and Palestine have allowed more than one disability cause per person.

Figure 7: Causes of disability as percentage of total  

Causes of disability as percentage of total: Bahrain: congenital 9.2%, illness 35.2%, birth-related 30.0%, accident 9.6%, other 16.1%. Iraq: congenital 23.6%, illness 29.4%, ageing 23.5%, birth-related 10.4%, physical and psychological abuse 0.9%, work accident 1.1%, car accident 6.1%, war/terrorism 3.8%, other 1.2%. Mauritania: congenital 29.5%, illness 41.8%, accident 11.6%, war/terrorism 0.8%, other 16.3%. Oman: congenital 32.8%, illness 26.4 %, ageing 31.8%, work accident 1.4%, car accident 4.9%, other 2.7%. Palestine: congenital 23.4%, illness 34.0%, ageing 21.2%, birth-related 5.9%, physical and psychological abuse 1.0%, work accident 1.9%, car accident 1.7%, other accident 4.4%, war/terrorism 0.2%, Israeli measures 3.6%, other 2.8%. Saudi Arabia: congenital 34.7%, illness 36.9%, birth-related 13.8%, car accident 6.0%, other accident 5.0%, other 3.6%. Yemen: congenital 25.6%, illness 31.9%, ageing 28.0%, work accident 3.8%, car accident 4.3%, war/terrorism 1.8%, other 3.9%, not stated 0.7%.

Source: Calculated from Arab Disability Statistics in Numbers 2017, based on data compiled and verified from National Statistics Offices (NSOs) from the following censuses and surveys: Bahrain Census 2010, Iraq Poverty and Maternal Mortality Survey (I-PMM) 2013, Mauritania Census 2013, Oman Census 2010, Palestine Census 2007, Saudi Arabia Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2016, Yemen Household Budget Survey (HBS) 2014.

The proportion of disabilities caused by illness ranges between 26.4 per cent in Oman and 41.8 per cent in Mauritania. Illness is the most common cause of disability in all countries except Oman, where congenital causes are most prevalent. These make up a major share of total disability causes in other countries too, though Bahrain is an outlier at the low end with a rate of 9.2 per cent. In the remaining six countries, the proportion of disabilities attributed to congenital causes ranges between 23.4 per cent in Palestine and 34.7 per cent in Saudi Arabia. The ratio for ageing, which is included as a category by Iraq, Oman, Palestine and Yemen, is between 21.2 per cent (Palestine) and 31.8 per cent (Oman). Concerning birth-related causes, included by Iraq, Bahrain, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, the prevalence diverges considerably: in Palestine only 5.9 per cent of disabilities are birth-related whereas the proportion in Bahrain is five times higher at 30 per cent. 

While seven countries have included accident as a cause of disability, they have done so in different ways. In Iraq, Oman, Palestine and Yemen, the category is disaggregated by “work accident” or “car accident”. Palestine also has a third “other accident” category. Saudi Arabia only has “car accident” and “other accident”. In total, accidents account for between 6.3 per cent (Oman) and 11 per cent (Saudi Arabia) of disabilities. Car accidents are the most common form of disability-causing accidents in all countries for which a breakdown is provided, except in Palestine where “other accidents” make up the largest share.

Iraq and Palestine have also included the category “physical and psychological abuse”, accounting for around 1 per cent of disabilities. Iraq, Palestine, Mauritania and Yemen have a category called “war/terrorism” which causes between 0.2 per cent (Palestine) and 3.8 per cent (Iraq) of all disabilities. Furthermore, in Palestine the data indicates that 3.6 per cent of disabilities are due to “Israeli measures”. In Bahrain and Mauritania, “other” is the cause of over 16 per cent of disabilities, whereas this is the case for less than 4 per cent of disabilities in the other countries. Yemen, finally, has a category labelled “non-stated” which accounts for less than 1 per cent of disabilities.

The fact that different countries include different categories clearly affects the outcome of the data collection. For Bahrain and Mauritania, notably, the large number of unspecified causes has presumably lowered the number of specified ones. It may also be noted that the three countries that have not included ageing as a category report the highest numbers of disabilities caused by illness. Similarly, although Bahrain has a very low rate of disabilities ascribed to congenital reasons, it has a strikingly high rate of birth-related disabilities, possibly indicating that it classifies these causes slightly differently than other countries.

Some marked gender differences can be observed. The proportion of disabilities caused by ageing is higher among women than among men. This is unsurprising since women, as noted above, constitute a larger proportion of older persons, as well as older persons with disabilities. Accidents of all forms are a considerably more frequent cause of disability among men than among women (figure 8). In some cases, the difference is extreme: in Palestine, work accidents are the cause of 3.3 per cent of male disabilities but only 0.4 per cent of female ones. This trend can in all likelihood be explained by the fact that women in the Arab region are less likely to work and to drive. The gender difference is even higher for disabilities caused by war/terrorism and, in the case of Palestine, by Israeli measures. In Yemen, for example, 3.3 per cent of male disabilities, but only 0.2 per cent of female ones, are caused by war/terrorism.

Figure 8: Percentage of disabilities caused by accidents

Percentage of disabilities caused by accidents: Bahrain: women 5.4%, men 12.1%. Iraq: women 4.2%, men 9.7%. Mauritania: women 9.0%, men 13.8%. Oman: women 2.8%, men 9.4%. Palestine: women 4.6%, men 11.0%. Saudi Arabia: women 1.6%, men 9.3%. Yemen: women 3.0%, men 13%.

Source: Calculated from Arab Disability Statistics in Numbers 2017, based on data compiled and verified from National Statistics Offices (NSOs) from the following censuses and surveys: Bahrain Census 2010, Iraq Poverty and Maternal Mortality Survey (I-PMM) 2013, Mauritania Census 2013, Oman Census 2010, Palestine Census 2007, Saudi Arabia Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2016, Yemen Household Budget Survey (HBS) 2014.

If disabilities caused by accidents and war/terrorism have in recent years become more common, and if they more often affect the young, this could in part explain why the disability rate is higher among men than among women up to the age of around 55. However, confirming this would require data on disability cause disaggregated by age, which presently are not available. 


[1] It may be noted that Yemen has allowed multiple disability types per respondent, but only one disability cause.