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.
Out of the total population of Persons with Disabilities, about 1.50 crore are male and 1.18 crore female. These include persons with visual, hearing, speech and loco-motor disabilities; mental illness, mental retardation, multiple disabilities and other disabilities.
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.
The growth rate of disabled population is more in urban areas and among urban females.The decadal growth in urban areas is 48.2% and 55% among urban females. Among scheduled castes it is 2.45%
Most of the disabled are those with movement disability. According to the census, 20.3% of the disabled are movement disabled followed by hearing impaired (18.9%) and visually impaired (18.8%).
Nearly 5.6% of the disabled population is mentally challenged, a classification introduced in the 2011 census.
