Disability profiling of India and Maharashtra in census 2011 with decadal variation

 

Ashlesha Tawde Kelkar^1*, Prasad Waingankar², Seema Anjenaya³

 

 

Abstract               Background: As per Census 2011, in India, out of the 121 Cr population, about 2.68 Cr persons are ‘disabled’ which is 2.21% of the total population. In an era where ‘inclusive development’ is being emphasised as the right path towards sustainable development, focussed initiatives for the welfare of disabled persons are essential. This emphasises the need for strengthening disability statistics in the Country Aims and Objectives: To study Disability profiling of India and Maharashtra in Census 2011 with decadal variation. Methodology: This was a Census based study carried out in the one month period i.e. May 2018 at tertiary health care centre i.e. in Census 2011 and 2001 with respect to the disabled population all the disabled population with respect to age, sex, urban, rural, type of disability etc. was noted, the data was collected from the data available on the Census of 2011 and 2001 of respective years website. Result: In overall India, majority (69%) of the disabled population resided in rural areas (1.86 Cr disabled persons in rural areas and 0.81 Cr in urban areas). In the case of total population also, 69% are from rural areas while the remaining 31% resided in urban areas. The majority of the disabled populations were in the age group of 10-19 Yrs. As per the census 2011 ; the percentage of disabled to the total population increased from 2.13% in 2001 to 2.21% in 2011. In rural areas, the increase was from 2.21% in 2001 to 2.24% in 2011 whereas, in urban areas, it increased from 1.93% to 2.17% during this period. The same trend was observed among males and females during this period. The percentage decadal change in disabled population during 2001 -2011 is 22.4, whereas for the total population, the percentage decadal change is 17.7. The most common type of disability was in movement i.e. 20% followed by in hearing 19%. The majority of the disabled population from Maharashtra were in the age group of 20-29 Yrs. i.e. 492115 followed by 10-19 were 484883 As per the 2001 census, the most common disability was Visual i.e. 5.81 lakhs followed by Locomotor were 5.7 lakhs Conclusion: The prevalence of disability is increasing in all India and also in Maharashtra also as per the decadal period in the two subsequent censuses if this trend will continue in the future there will tremendous number of persons with disability so country has to bear the burden of it not only economical but also health, lack employment and also the basic needs of them

Key Words: Census 2011, Census 2001, Disabled population.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

As per Census 2011, in India, out of the 121 Cr population, about 2.68 Cr persons are ‘disabled’ which is 2.21% of the total population. In an era where ‘inclusive development’ is being emphasised as the right path towards sustainable development, focussed initiatives for the welfare of disabled persons are essential. This emphasises the need for strengthening disability statistics in the Country¹. According to a UN forecast, by 2050 there will be 323 million people over age 60 in India². As aging is closely associated with increasing disability prevalence, India will face important structural and financial challenges related to the huge absolute numbers of people with disabilities requiring adequate social and health care. Expected increases in the number of people with disabilities also pose challenges for sustainable development, because disability in developing countries like India is closely related to the lack of education, extreme poverty, and social exclusion^3–5. All of these important issues require the careful monitoring and planning of financial resources, which is impossible without more comprehensive data on disability and its determinants. International evidence on the prevalence of disability in developing countries is scarce, and often generates contradictory figures. Disability is usually defined as a physical or a mental health condition that limits a person’s ability to perform normal life activities. However, the prevalence figures largely depend on data sources and methodological approaches (definitions). The existing rough estimations from international agencies such as the UN or the World Bank suggest that 10–12% of the global population have at least one disability⁶. However, the WHO World Health Survey and the WHO Global Burden of Disease study provide higher figures (16–19%)⁶. According to the WHO World Health Survey estimation for 2002–2004, disability prevalence in India is much higher (25%) than the global average. Although the percentage of people with disabilities is lower in India than in neighboring Bangladesh (32%), it is almost twice as high as in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It has been acknowledged that the WHO WHS and other survey-based estimates suffer from important deficiencies related to coverage, representativeness, exclusion of most vulnerable groups, and reporting biases; and that these deficiencies may seriously distort international comparisons. For many developing countries, the only reliable data source for disability prevalence remains population censuses. Although they provide only very broad, self-reported data, the census-based disability estimates may be based on higher levels of coverage and representativeness than surveys. The census-based figures on disability are usually lower than those based on specific survey data⁶, primarily because most health surveys ask a larger number of questions and more detailed questions than the census. For example, the 2001 census estimate for India, which is based on a narrower (medical) definition of disability, indicates that the total population with any kind of disability is 11.8 million, whereas the corresponding National Sample Survey (NSS) estimate is 26.5 million⁷. Despite the large discrepancy between these two figures, certain socio-demographic patterns of disability in India emerge when we examine the data from these diverse sources. For instance, previous findings clearly indicate that the prevalence of disability in India steeply increases with age⁸. Locomotor disability has been shown to be the most prevalent type of disability in India⁸. Rates of locomotor and hearing disabilities have been found to be much higher among Indian men than Indian women, while rates of seeing disabilities have been found to be higher among women than men^8–9. Although having a disability is often associated with severe socioeconomic disadvantages and poverty, only a small fraction of the people with disabilities in India receive government assistance^5,10–13. The country's disabled population has increased by 22.4% between 2001 and 2011. The number of disabled, which was 2.19 crore in 2001, rose in 2011 to 2.68 crore—1.5 crore males and 1.18 crore females. Rural areas have more disabled people than urban areas. In Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim, the disabled account for 2.5% of the total population, while Tamil Nadu and Assam are among those where the disabled population is less than 1.75% of the total population, says the 2011 Census on the disabled released on Saturday¹⁴.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This was a Census based study carried out in the one month period i.e. May 2018 at tertiary health care centre i.e. in Census 2011 and 2001 with respect to the disabled population all the disabled population with respect to age, sex, urban, rural, type of disability etc. was noted, the data was collected from the data available on the Census of 2011 and 2001 of respective years website.

 

RESULT

Table 1: Total population and Disabled persons of India (census 2011)

In India out of the 121 Cr population, 2.68 Cr persons are ‘disabled’ which is 2.21% of the total population. Among the disabled population 56% (1.5 Cr) are males and 44% (1.18 Cr) are females. In the total population, the male and female population are 51% and 49% respectively. Majority (69%) of the disabled population resided in rural areas (1.86 Cr disabled persons in rural areas and 0.81 Cr in urban areas). In the case of total population also, 69% are from rural areas while the remaining 31% resided in urban areas.

 

Table 2: Age and sex wise distribution of the disabled population

 

Figure 1: Disabled population by age group in India- Census, 2011

 

From Table 2 and Graph 1: The majority of the disabled populations were in the age group of 10-19 Yrs. were 46.2 lakhs. Followed by 20-29 Yrs. were 41.9 lakhs. 30-39 Yrs. were 36.4.

 

 

Figure 2: Percentage of disabled to the concerned total population in India - Census 2001 and 2011

 

The percentage of disabled to the total population increased from 2.13% in 2001 to 2.21% in 2011. In rural areas, the increase was from 2.21% in 2001 to 2.24% in 2011 whereas, in urban areas, it increased from 1.93% to 2.17% during this period. The same trend was observed among males and females during this period.

 

Figure 3: Percentage Decadal change in disabled population and total population, India 2001-2011

 

The percentage decadal change in disabled population during 2001 -2011 is 22.4, whereas for the total population, the percentage decadal change is 17.7.

Figure 4: Various types of disabilities

 

Figure 5: Age and sex wise population of Maharashtra in 2011 census

 

From above Table 3 and Graph 5 it is clear that the majority of the disabled population from Maharashtra were in the age group of 20-29 Yrs. i.e. 492115 followed by 10-19 were 484883 And the majority of the patients were males as compared to females in all the age groups.

 

Figure 6: Disabled population of Maharashtra as per 2001 census (population in lakhs)

 

The most common disability was Visual i.e. 5.81 lakhs followed by Locomotor were 5.7 lakhs, Mental were 2.13 lakhs, Speech were 1.13 lakhs, in hearing were 0.92 lakhs.

 

DISCUSSION

Disability itself is a huge term, covering multidimensional impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. “Disabled people are not only the most deprived human beings in the developing world, they also the most neglected”²⁴. Roughly 10 percent of the population in the world or 650 million people live with disability¹⁷. There is a marked asymmetry in burden of disability shared by developed and developing countries with the latter accounting for almost 80 percent of the total disabled population. Asia alone constitutes at least 400 million people with disabilities. Not only people with disabilities but also their families and communities are affected by disability¹⁷ NSS (National Sample Survey) of 36th, 47th and 58th round has provided data on disabled population. The 36th round (1981) of NSS data has introduced the demographic status of the disabled population. The 36th round, the NSS data covered only three types of disabilities. It included visual, communication (i.e. hearing and/or speech) and locomotors, whereas in 47th round of NSS the mental disability has been included as one of the type along with the previous three. In the 47th NSSO survey, the objective was to provide the incidence and prevalence of disability in the country. In India, the official figures provided by Census 2011 (26.8 million) and 2002 (18.5 million) indicate that around 2 percent of country’s population suffers from disability^16-23. These figures account for 3.2 percent of the total disabled in the world. According to 2001 census 21 million people were disabled which has increased to 26 million in 2011 census^15-16. The number of people with disabilities is expected to increase. The reasons are complex and multifaceted and largely due to health, demographic, and development factors. A study examined the differences in employment and wages between males with and without disabilities in rural Tamil Nadu, the authors concluded that “employment gap between individuals with and without disability is not explained by differences in human capital and productivity, and may result from differential returns to characteristics and from discrimination in access to employment”^19,21. In India out of the 121 Cr population, 2.68 Cr persons are ‘disabled’ which is 2.21% of the total population. Among the disabled population 56% (1.5 Cr) are males and 44% (1.18 Cr) are females. In the total population, the male and female population are 51% and 49% respectively. Majority (69%) of the disabled population resided in rural areas (1.86 Cr disabled persons in rural areas and 0.81 Cr in urban areas). In the case of total population also, 69% are from rural areas while the remaining 31% resided in urban areas. The majority of the disabled populations were in the age group of 10-19 Yrs. were 46.2 lakhs. Followed by 20-29 Yrs. were 41.9 lakhs. 30-39 Yrs. were 36.4.As per the census 2011 ; the percentage of disabled to the total population increased from 2.13% in 2001 to 2.21% in 2011. In rural areas, the increase was from 2.21% in 2001 to 2.24% in 2011 whereas, in urban areas, it increased from 1.93% to 2.17% during this period. The same trend was observed among males and females during this period. The percentage decadal change in disabled population during 2001 -2011 is 22.4, whereas for the total population, the percentage decadal change is 17.7. The most common type of disability was in movement i.e. 20% followed by in hearing 19%, in seeing 19%, Any other 18%, multiple disability was 8%, in speech was 7%, Mental retardation was 6%, mental illness the majority of the disabled population from Maharashtra were in the age group of 20-29 Yrs. i.e. 492115 followed by 10-19 were 484883. And the majority of the patients were males as compared to females in all the age groups. As per the 2001 census, the most common disability was Visual i.e. 5.81 lakhs followed by Locomotor were 5.7 lakhs, Mental were 2.13 lakhs, Speech were 1.13 lakhs, in hearing were 0.92 lakhs. From this it is clear that the prevalence of disability is increasing in all India and also in Maharashtra also as per the decadal period in the two subsequent censuses if this trend will continue in the future there will tremendous number of persons with disability so country has to bear the burden of it not only economical but also health, lack employment and also the basic needs of them so the programs should be launched nationwide to prevent, decrease, and rehabilitate the disabled persons.

 

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of disability is increasing in all India and also in Maharashtra also as per the decadal period in the two subsequent censuses if this trend will continue in the future there will tremendous number of persons with disability so country has to bear the burden of it not only economical but also health, lack employment and also the basic needs of them

 

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