EUROSTAT conducted a survey in 2001 called Disability and
social participation in Europe which responded to the growing
demand for internationally comparable statistics on the
situation of people with disabilities. This study also corresponded
to the European Council resolution on equal opportunities
for people with disabilities calling for more reliable statistics
on people with disabilities to monitor their employment
on the basis of comparable data. Similarly, data on the
social inclusion of people with disabilities was required
to guide the European Commission in 2003, the European Year
of People with Disabilities. The survey was carried out
by the EUROSTAT Health and Safety unit with support from
the Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs,
Integration of People with Disabilities unit.
The survey attempted to answer the question, what is the
degree of social participation of people with disabilities
in Europe in the main areas of life including marriage,
education, work, family and social contacts? The study tries
to answer these questions using data from the European Community
Household Panel (ECHP) covering many aspects of daily life
including employment, income, demographic characteristics,
the environment, health and education. The ECHP sample covers
some 60,000 households and covers 14 out of 15 EU countries
(Sweden was not included).
What the survey shows is a systematic difference between
disabled and non-disabled populations in almost all areas
of life. The magnitude of these differences varies from
one country to another and the differences in educational,
social, health and pension systems make the data difficult
to compare at times. For instance, on the question of marital
status, people without a disability are more likely to marry
(78%) than those reporting a moderate disability (73%) or
a severe disability (67%).
 In
the field of education, people with disabilities are much
more likely not to complete tertiary education or the third
level of education than those without disabilities.
The percentage of inactive working age people with disabilities
is significantly higher than people without disabilities,
particularly for those with severe disabilities (67% vs.
36%). Only 25% of people with severe disabilities are employed
compared to 57% of the population without disabilities.
These are just a few examples of the information that can
be obtained from this survey but it is an important first
step in having data with indicators on the social participation
of people with disabilities. This kind of data can be used
to guide policy-making on a European level and is a model
for other countries in their efforts to implement policies
on equal opportunities and full participation.
Source: EUROSTAT, Disability
and Social Participation in Europe, 2001.
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