Canada: People with Disabilities

About 4.4 million Canadians (14.3%) reported having a disability in 2006. The percentage of Canadians with disabilities increased with age, ranging from 3.7% for children 14 years and under to 56.3% for those 75 years and over. In 2006, a greater proportion of females (15.2%) reported a disability than males (13.4%). This does not hold for all age groups. A greater proportion of males aged 0 to 14 (4.6%) were reported having a disability than females in the same age group (2.7%). The percentage of Canadians with disabilities was lowest in Nunavut (6.4%) and highest in Nova Scotia (20.0%). Lack of mobility, pain, and reduced agility were the three most reported disabilities among adults aged 15 and over. Adults were most likely to report some limitations due to pain (11.7%) followed closely by a mobility disability (11.5%), and agility (11.1%). Women reported more of these types of disabilities than men (13.4% mobility, 13.3% pain, and 12.4% agility for women versus 9.5%, 10.0%, and 9.7% for men). There were 202,350 children (3.7% of children) between the ages of 0 and 14 years with a disability in Canada in 2006. A greater proportion of boys (4.6%) were reported to have a disability than girls (2.7%). Among school-aged children (aged 5 to 14) with a disability, learning disabilities was the most common disability for boys (72.7%), whereas chronic health conditions was the most common type for girls (65.0%).

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