At least 15 percent of them are people with disabilities. In 2017, conflicts and natural disasters led to the forced displacement of more than 30 million people, a third of whom were people with disabilities, according to the United Nations report. The big challenge is to ensure that humanitarian action meets everyone’s needs and priorities. In general, people with disabilities are left behind in humanitarian interventions because approaches are not inclusive.

Disability figures in the world

Do you hardly come across people with disabilities? And yet, the WHO has identified more than 1 billion, this represents a 6th continent… and 20% of them live with great functional difficulties on a daily basis.

The scope of disability on a global scale in a few figures (according to the WHO*):

• 253 million people are affected by some form of visual impairment, or 3.2% of the world population, including 36 million who are blind. That’s twice the population of Mexico**!
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• 466 million people have a disabling hearing loss, or 6% of the world population. That’s the population of the entire European Union!
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• Around 200 million people have an intellectual disability (IQ below 75), or 2.6% of the world population. This is the number of the population of Brazil!
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• 75 million people need a wheelchair every day, or 1% of the world population. That’s twice the population of Canada!

More and more people are affected by disability every year. It is often the most vulnerable populations who are most at risk. Also the WHO states that “the number of people with disabilities is increasing due to the aging of the population and the increase in chronic diseases”.

A point about the facts:

• 80% of types of disability occur between the ages of 18 and 64, which is the period when we are actively employed (according to the Disability Living Foundation)
• In 2017, the world population numbered 962 million seniors, twice as many as in 1980;
• 1 in 2 disabled people cannot afford healthcare;
• People with disabilities have poorer general health;
• Disability creates increased dependence and restricted participation in life in society;
• The poverty rate is higher among people with disabilities.

These gaps can be explained in particular by the obstacles encountered in accessing services related to health, education, transport, information and the labor market that many take for granted.