A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

242Irish data were included from the 1981 Population Census – on the basis of peoplewith disabilities who were not economically active, presented by age and gender.There were 4,266 non-economically active disabled men per 100,000 populationand 2,650 non-economically active disabled women per 100,000 populationidentified at that time. For both men and women prevalence increased with age.However, given the variability of the data sources and the variation in definitionsof disability used it is not possible to make meaningful cross-country comparisons,even using this dated data. An updated compendium has not been publishedbut up-to-date statistics are available on a country-by-country basis from theDISTAT database. Up-to-date information for Ireland is not included and the useof the material carries the qualification that ‘due to the differences in conceptsand methods to identify people with disabilities prevalence rates should not becompared across countries’. 153Under the auspices of the UN Statistics Division the Washington Group on DisabilityStatistics has been established to promote the co-ordination of disability statisticsthroughout the world. Specifically, the focus is on the design of disability measuressuitable for censuses and national surveys. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO)International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has beenaccepted as the basic framework for this work. The Washington Group comprisesrepresentatives of national statistical offices, international organisations and nongovernmentalorganisations. It was established in 2001. Ireland is a member of theGroup and hosted the seventh meeting in September 2007 (the CSO with assistancefrom the National Disability Authority).At OECD level there is limited information on disability. The focus is on receipt ofsickness and disability benefits, using information from labour force surveys. Thesedata are limited in a number of ways – they do not distinguish between sicknessand disability, they only relate to people in the workforce, and to those in receiptof benefits.There are limited statistics on disability at European Union level. Information relatesto social expenditure on disability payments, and employment of people with a longstandinghealth problem or disability (special module of the Labour Force Survey,2002). There is also limited information on ‘people outside the labour force’ whoare ‘inactive’ because of illness or disability. The European Community HouseholdPanel survey (ECHP) asked if people were hampered in their daily activities becauseof chronic ill-health or disability. This survey ceased in 2001 and was replaced byEU-SILC (Survey of Income and Living Conditions) in 2003 which does not include aspecific disability question (questions are included on health and inability to workdue to illness or disability). There is a European Consortium, Measuring Health andDisability in Europe (in which the Irish National Disability Authority is a partner),which is considering application of the ICF approach at European level.153. See http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/disability/disab2.asp