EVALUATION OF EXISTING EUROSTAT STATISTICS

1. DISABILITY PREVALENCE

The data in this section come from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), which covers persons aged 16 years and older living in private households. The survey is conducted annually, and the data presented refer to the latest year available per country. All the indicators are based on the Global Activity Limitation Index (GALI) , except for the last indicator, which measures difficulty in basic activities.

Indicator	Data source	Disability measurement	Periodicity of data collection	Population
1. Disability prevalence by level of disability	EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) [hlth_silc_12]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
2. Disability prevalence by sex	EU-SILC [hlth_silc_12]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
3. Disability prevalence by age group	EU-SILC [hlth_dh010]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
4. Disability prevalence by income quintile	EU-SILC [hlth_silc_12]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
5. Disability prevalence by educational attainment level	EU-SILC [hlth_silc_07]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
6. Disability prevalence by activity difficulty	EU-SILC [ilc_hch17]	WG-SS	Every 3 years	16 years and older

Table 3: Indicators identified as strong candidates for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database on disability prevalence.

Indicator	Data source	Disability measurement	Periodicity of data collection	Population
1. Disability prevalence by level of disability	EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) [hlth_silc_12]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
2. Disability prevalence by sex	EU-SILC [hlth_silc_12]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
3. Disability prevalence by age group	EU-SILC [hlth_dh010]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
4. Disability prevalence by income quintile	EU-SILC [hlth_silc_12]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
5. Disability prevalence by educational attainment level	EU-SILC [hlth_silc_07]	GALI	Annually	16 years and older
6. Disability prevalence by activity difficulty	EU-SILC [ilc_hch17]	WG-SS	Every 3 years	16 years and older

Table 3: Indicators identified as strong candidates for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics database on disability prevalence.

Figure 1: Share of persons with disabilities by level of disability among persons aged 16 years and over living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark, EU27 and EA20; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_12]

The indicator on disability prevalence by level of disability, shown in Figure 1, is a strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database. The graph shows that the share of persons with disabilities is highest in Finland and Norway, where around one third of the population aged 16 years and older living in private households report having a disability. The graph also shows that the share of persons with severe activity limitation is highest in Iceland (11%), while the share of persons with some activity limitation is also lowest in Iceland (13%).

Figure 1 includes values for the European Union (EU27) and the Euro Area (EA20). In both areas, 17 percent of the population report some degree of limitation, while 7 percent report severe limitation. As there is no difference in the values for these two groups, the values for the Euro Area are omitted in the remainder of the report. Instead, the European Union average (EU27) is used as the sole reference point alongside the Nordic region in the graphs presented.

The same indicator is shown over time in Figure 2. The graph shows that, since 2014, the proportion of people reporting some or severe activity limitation has increased across the Nordic region. The most pronounced rise is observed in Norway, where the share grew by 18 percentage points over the period. Sweden follows with an increase of 9 percentage points, indicating a substantial upward trend despite starting from a lower level. The average share of persons reporting some or severe activity limitation across the EU Member States decreased by 4 percentage points during the period but remained relatively stable over most of the decade.

Please note that there are breaks in the time series that can hinder full comparability over time and even between countries. The reader is advised to consult the full data documentation at Eurostat’s website. For the purposes of this report, we highlight that comparisons between different groups for the same country and time are the safest to use, as this guarantees that the same survey definitions have been used. For instance, the study of disability rates by sex and income level for the different Nordic countries indicate that disability is more prevalent among women and those with lower income.

Figure 2: Share of persons with some or severe activity limitation 2014–2025 among persons aged 16 years and older living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark and EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_12]

Figure 3: Share of persons with some or severe activity limitation by sex among persons aged 16 years and over living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark, EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_12]

Another strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database in this section is the indicator on disability prevalence by sex, shown in Figure 3. The share of women reporting some or severe activity limitation is higher than the respective share of men in all the Nordic countries. The greatest difference between men and women is observed in Iceland (13 percentage points), while the smallest difference is observed in Denmark (5 percentage points). In comparison, on average in the EU, the share of women reporting disability is also higher than the share of men, but by 4 percentage points.

The indicator on disability prevalence by age group, shown in Figure 4.1 and 4.2, is also a strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database. The graphs show how the share of persons reporting some or severe activity limitation increases progressively with age. They also show that, for persons aged 16–44 years, the share of persons reporting some or severe activity limitation is higher in Nordic countries than on average in the European Union. According to the graphs, the lowest share of persons reporting activity limitation is observed in Sweden across most age groups, except for the age group 16–24 years, where the lowest share is observed in Denmark, and the age groups 25–34 and 85 and older, where it is observed in Iceland. Conversely, the highest share is observed in Finland across most age groups, except for the age groups 35–54 years, where it is highest in Norway.

Figure 4.1 : Share of persons with some or severe activity limitation by age group among persons living in private households (16-54 years).

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark, EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_12]

Figure 4.2 : Share of persons with some or severe activity limitation by age group among persons living in private households (55-85 or older).

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark, EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_12]

Figure 5: Share of persons with some or severe activity limitation by first, third and fifth income quintile among persons aged 16 years and older living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark, EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_12]

The fourth strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database in this section is the indicator on disability prevalence by income quintile, shown in Figure 5.

The graph reveals clear differences between income quintiles and disability across all Nordic countries. It shows that persons in the lowest income group are more likely to report disability than those in the middle and higher income groups. The largest share of persons reporting disability is observed in Finland, where 44% of all persons in the lowest income group report disability. The smallest share within the lowest income category is observed in Sweden at 33%, which is equal to the European average.

Figure 5 also shows the gap in reported disability between income groups. The widest gap is found in Denmark, where the difference between the share of persons with disabilities in the lowest income group and the highest income group is 20 percentage points. The narrowest gap is observed in Iceland, where the difference is 8 percentage points.

Figure 6: Share of persons with some or severe activity limitation by educational attainment among persons aged 16 years and older living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark, EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_silc_07]

The indicator on disability prevalence by educational attainment level, shown in Figure 6, is the fifth strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database in this section. This indicator was also recommended in the NWC mapping study (2021). It shows that persons with lower levels of formal education are more likely to report disability than those with higher formal education. The highest share is observed in Finland, where 47% of persons with lower secondary education or less reported disability.

Figure 6 also shows the gap between educational attainment levels in reported disability. The widest gap is observed in Finland, where the difference between the share of persons reporting disability in the lowest educational level and the highest educational level is 21 percentage points. The narrowest gap is observed in Sweden and Iceland, where there is a difference of 10 percentage points between the groups with the highest and the lowest educational attainment levels.

Figure 7: Share of persons reporting moderate or severe difficulty in basic activities among persons aged 16 years and older living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden, 2022 for Denmark, Iceland and EU27).

Source: Eurostat [ilc_hch17]

Difficulty in basic activities, shown in Figure 7, is another way of measuring disability. This measurement of disability differs from the previous six indicators in this chapter, which measure activity limitation. This indicator instead assesses the level of difficulty in basic activities, namely hearing, seeing, walking, remembering or concentrating, communicating and self-care. This is also a strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database, as it captures a different dimension of disability measurement.

The graph in Figure 7 shows that over 50% of the population in Nordic countries report difficulty in one or more basic activities, except for Iceland at 42%. It also shows that while Nordic countries have a larger share of persons reporting moderate difficulty in basic activities than the EU27 average, the share of persons reporting severe difficulty is similar to the EU27 average.