THE 2017 census shows that only 0.48 per cent of Pakistanis are persons with disability. Assuming a population of 210 million, this comes to about 1m Pakistanis. Sample-based surveys show that the percentage of Pakistanis with disability is around 12pc or slightly more. This comes to about 25m Pakistanis. There is a massive difference between 1m and 25m people. Planning for a million people is very different from planning for 25m. Numbers matter. Getting accurate numbers matters.

The 2017 census number is clearly a gross understatement. The 1998 census had put the percentage of people with disability at 2.49pc. How is it possible that this percentage has dropped to 0.48pc over the last 20-odd years?

More importantly, most international surveys also show that 10pc to 15pc of the population in most places faces a challenge. Can Pakistan be very different from the global average?

Arriving at reasonable estimates of the incidence of disability is not a straightforward issue. It is not the kind of thing that can be asked simply through a yes-no question. This is why the census figure is such an under-estimate. Carrying out a census is a massive exercise. We cannot have too many questions in the instrument that is used to conduct the census. There is limited time and space to have questions pertaining to disabilities. So the underreporting is not surprising.
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