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What percentage of American adults have a disability?

9.8% of American adults have a disability — about 10 in every 100, or 1 in 10. That is the figure published by the National Health Interview Survey for 2025.

Where this number comes from

Survey

National Health Interview Survey

What it measured

Disability is defined by the reported level of difficulty (no difficulty, some difficulty, a lot of difficulty, or cannot do at all) in six functioning domains: seeing (even if wearing glasses), hearing (even if wearing hearing aids), mobility (walking or climbing stairs), communication (understanding or being understood by others), cognition (remembering or concentrating), and self-care (such as washing all over or dressing). Adults who responded "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all" to at least one question were considered to have a disability.

Population

U.S. adults aged 18 and over

Year

2025

95% confidence interval

9.4% to 10.3%

Work of the U.S. federal government - public domain. See the source data

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