# Presentation: 247223

##  United Nations collection of national disability statistics 
from population and housing censuses and related national surveys and administrative registers 

**from population and housing censuses and related national surveys and administrative registers**** **

**Fifth Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics, ****Rio de Janeiro, 21-23 September 2005**

**Maria Martinho and Jeremiah Banda**
**United Nations Statistics Division**
_**http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic**_

## Outline of the presentation

**The Demographic yearbook system (DYB)**
**Results of the DYB pre-testing**
**Impact of different approaches on the level of disability prevalence**
**The design of the DYB questionnaire**

## The Demographic Yearbook System (DYB)

**Collects, compiles and disseminates official statistics on a wide range of topics**
**Data have been collected from national statistical authorities since 1948 **
**A set of questionnaires is dispatched annually by the United Nations Statistics Division to over 230 national statistical offices**
**Regular collection of human functioning and disability statistics starting by the end of 2005**

**Notes:**
Demographic Yearbook special topics issues cover a wide range of additional topics including economic activity, educational attainment, household characteristics, housing, ethnicity and language, among others.

## DYB collection of disability  statistics 

**UNSD Pilot Questionnaire on Human Function and Disability Statistics**
**Tested in 44 countries **
**Data: **
**Population with and without disabilities **
**Population with and without disabilities by school attendance **
**Population with and without disabilities by activity status**
**All tables by age, sex and urban/rural residence**
**Metadata:**
**Capture methodological factors that can influence disability prevalence rates:**
**Question wording, coverage, mode of data collection, etc**** **

## Results of the DYB pre-testing 

**Tested in 57 countries/areas**
***Africa***** (21)**
***Asia***** (21)**
***South America***** (6)**
***North America***** (8)**
***Oceania***** (1)**

**Notes:**
The questionnaire was tested in four workshops: WG regional workshop, Nairobi, 2005; ESCWA workshop, Beirut, 2005; ESCAP workshop, Nairobi, 2004; Regional workshop, Ghana, 2004.

## National data collection on disability statistics 

|  | Number of countries/areas |
| --- | --- |
| No collection | 4 |
| Census | 20 |
| Surveys | 5 |
| AR | 3 |
| Census & surveys | 11 |
| Census & AR | 3 |
| Surveys & AR | 3 |
| Census, surveys & ARs | 8 |

**Notes:**
These numbers to not reflect the last questionnaires received from the Rio testing.

## Results from the pre-testing: Censuses 

** ****41 countries/areas collect disability data in censuses**
**Questions available for 31 countries:**
**Most census questions are either **
**(i) generic questions or **
**(ii) impairment based (28 countries/areas)**
**Only three countries use neutral language and activity limitations**
**5 countries use one question for the household**

**Notes:**
Neutral language: Brazil, Uganda and Belize.
Household questions: Yemen, Ethiopia, Panama, Iran and Paraguay.

## Results from the pre-testing: Censuses 

**Bahamas, Fiji, Mauritius and Zimbabwe**

**1. Are you blind?**

**If Yes, do you have any difficulty with the following activities...?**

**If Yes, are you blind?**

**1. Do you have any difficulty with the following activities...?**

**Uganda**

**Inverted funnel **

**Notes:**
The questionnaire was tested in four workshops: WG regional workshop, Nairobi, 2005; ESCWA workshop, Beirut, 2005; ESCAP workshop, Nairobi, 2004; Regional workshop, Ghana, 2004.

## Results from the pre-testing: Censuses 

**Other questions: **
- Type of disability: 29 countries
- Cause of disability: 7 countries
**Institutionalized population covered in 26 countries**
**Face-to-face interview in 34 countries**
**One respondent per household: 25 countries**

**Notes:**
Neutral language: Brazil, Uganda and Belize.
Household questions: Yemen, Ethiopia, Panama, Iran and Paraguay.

## Results from the pre-testing: Surveys 

**27 countries/areas collect disability data in surveys**
**Questionnaires tend to be longer **
**Design of the sample can be complex**
**Some countries are using weighting schemes for the questions**

**Notes:**
Neutral language: Brazil, Uganda and Belize.
Household questions: Yemen, Ethiopia, Panama, Iran and Paraguay.

## Results from the pre-testing: Surveys 

**Institutional population**
**Covered: 3 ****	****Not covered: 8****	****NA: 16**
**Mode of data collection**
**Face-to-face interview: 18****	****NA: 8**
**Respondent **
**One respondent per household: 7**
**Self-response: 8****	****	****NA: 8**

## Impact of different approaches on the level of disability prevalence

**Countries included: 29 countries**
**Participated in the pre-testing of the UNSD Pilot questionnaire**
**Provided information on census**
**Extra information was gathered from DISTAT, country reports and manuals, NSOs websites and WG country reports**
**Preliminary study:**
**Look at two census in the same country**
**Demographic, social and cultural background is similar**

## Dominican Republic

**Do you have any of the following disabilities?**
**- Blind, deaf, mute, physical dsabilities, does not have disabilities.**

**In 2001,**
**+Blind of one eye,**
**+Loss or limitation in moving arms/legs**

## Zambia

**Is ....... blind? ****Deaf/dumb? ****Crippled? ****Mentally retarded?**

**Are you disabled in any way?**

## Uganda, 1991 & 2001 censuses

**2001**

**1991**

**1991: Is anyone in the household in the census night disabled? **

**2001: Do you have any difficulty in moving, seeing, hearing, speaking or learning, that has lasted or is expected to last 6 months or more?**

**Notes:**
Activity and mild impairments questions lead to higher rates specially among the elderly.

## Preliminary conclusions

**Factors that may affect the level of disability prevalence:**
- Number of domains included
- Use of activity based questions
**Use of generic questions provides low level of prevalence**

## Impact of different approaches on the level of disability prevalence

**Comparing countries worldwide:**
**Need to account for different age-sex distributions across countries: use world standardized prevalence rate**
**Census questions on disability were found to be of four main types**
**Other factors are also considered:**
**Mode of data collection, respondent, coverage of institutions, use of neutral terminology, minimum time duration for disability**

## Type of question

## Slide 19

|  |  | Nigeria | Iran | Sri Lanka | Palestine | Mexico | HungarY | Dominican Republic | Costa Rica |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ICF | Prevalence rate | 0.6% | 1.0% | 1.4% | 2.4% | 2.5% | 4.5% | 5.2% | 6.5% |
| Coding | Number of items | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 7 |
| b210 | blind | Y |   |   |   | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| b210 | blind in one eYe |   |   |   |   |   | Y | Y |   |
| b210 | partial blindness |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |
| b230 | deaf | Y | Y |   |   | Y | Y | Y |   |
| b230 | partial deafness |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |
| b310-399 | dumb | Y |   |   |   | Y | Y | Y |   |
|   | crippled | Y |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| s730-750 | loss of limb |   |   |   |   |   | Y |   | Y |
| b7356 | paralYsis |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |
| b750-b799 | loss of movement of legs |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |   |
| b750-b800 | loss of movement of arms |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |   |
|   | disabilities in hands/legs |   |   | Y |   |   |   |   |   |
|   | phYsicallY disabled |   | Y | Y |   | Y | Y | Y |   |
|   | mentallY retarded | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
|   | psYchosis |   |   | Y |   |   |   |   |   |
|   | mental disabilitY |   |   |   | Y | Y |   |   |   |
|   | mental disorder |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |
| e1251 | use of assistive device to hear |   |   |   |   | Y |   |   |   |
| b1671 | defective speech |   |   |   |   |   | Y |   |   |
| b210 | sight/seeing |   |   | Y | Y |   | Y |   |   |
| b230 | hearing |   |   | Y | Y |   | Y |   |   |
| d330 | speaking/talking |   |   | Y | Y |   |   |   |   |
| b750-b799 | moving |   |   |   | Y | Y | Y |   |   |
| d450 | walking |   |   |   |   | Y |   |   |   |
| b750-b799 | moving legs |   |   |   |   |   |   | Y |   |
| b710 | moving fingers/arms |   |   |   | Y |   |   | Y |   |
| d445 | use hands/arms |   |   |   |   | Y |   |   |   |

## Number of items included in the question

## Mode of data collection and respondent

## Conclusions

**Four main types of questions were identified**
**Question on activity limitation and participation restriction lead to the higher rates**
**Mode of data collection and respondent seem to have an effect when generic questions are used**
**No other factor was found to be influential**

## Limitations of the study

**The conclusions are limited by what was provided by countries; e.g. few countries in our study used scaled responses**
**Other relevant factors are difficult to measure:**
**How to account for training of the enumerators?**
**How to account for translation?**

## Impact on the UNSD Pilot questionnaire

**How to capture the impact of measurement?**
**Should UNSD account for survey and ARs measurement? **
**If yes, how to reflect the design and evaluate the quality of the data?**
**Should the questionnaire request cause of disability? **

## THANKS!

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