The first ever World Report on Disability was released on 9 June 2011 by the WHO and World Bank. The report includes the first update of the WHO’s disability prevalence estimates in more than 30 years. This work is timely with just over 100 countries now signed up the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 

The World Report on Disability provides global guidance on implementing the CRPD and gives an extensive picture of the situation of people with disabilities, their needs and unmet needs, and the barriers they face to participating fully in their societies

There are over one billion people with disabilities in the world, including between 110-190 million who experience very significant difficulties. This corresponds to about 15% of the world’s population and is higher than previous World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates which suggest a figure of around 10% a gross underestimate now in 2011.

The report highlights that many of the barriers people with disabilities face are avoidable and the disadvantage associated with disability can be overcome. It also makes recommendations for action at the local, national and international levels and delivers nine main recommendations.

The factsheet is available via the link below:
http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf (PDF 400KB)

Update:
In addition, the latest issue of the Development Bulletin, 'Implementing disability-inclusive development in the Pacific and Asia' (PDF 3.95 MB), highlights nine features of 'good practice'.

Update #2:
Full report now available: http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/

Thanks to GSDRC for update #1 (www.gsdrc.org) and Elena Down (www.internationalneeds.org.au) for update #2.

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