Population according to disability status and type of problem of persons with disabilities

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia publishes the final results of 2022 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings on the population of the Republic of Serbia according to disability status and type of problem of persons with disabilities.

Data are presented by sex and age, up to the level of municipalities and cities.

Data on disability were obtained on the basis of the respondents' answers to questions whether they have difficulties in performing daily activities due to problems with:

 

1. seeing (even provided with glasses),
2. hearing (even provided with hearing aid),
3. walking or climbing stairs,
4. remembering/concentration,
5. independence with clothing/taking food/personal hygiene,
6. communication (speech, mutual understanding with people and in surrounding).

 

To each of the six questions asked, the person could declare that: (1) there are no difficulties, (2) there are small difficulties, (3) there are many difficulties, (4) fully disabled in performing daily activities and (5) does not want to reply.

When collecting the data on disability, a sociological approach was used, according to which a person may consider that, despite the existence of a certain health problem, there are no difficulties in performing daily activities at home, at school or at work, thanks to the support of the environment, usage of the appropriate aids, etc.

Questions about disability were not asked for children below the age of two. For children aged two to four, questions were asked only about seeing, hearing and walking, while for persons aged five and above, whole question are posed.

The contingent of persons with disabilities includes all persons aged two and over who, due to at least one of the mentioned problems, have many difficulties or are fully disabled in performing daily activities - a total of 356 404 persons (148 104 men and 208 300 women).

Persons without disabilities are persons for whom the answer to each of the questions was received that they have no difficulties or that they have small difficulties - a total of 6 060 960 persons (2 963 556 men and 3 097 404 women), while persons who did not want to answer to none of the questions and persons for whom data was not collected, included are in the contingent of persons whose disability status is unknown - a total of 109 343 persons (58 475 men and 50 868 women).

Table 1: Population aged two and over according to disability status, by region

	Total	Persons with disabilities		Persons without disabilities		Persons whose disability status is unknown
		all	%	all	%	all	%
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	6 526 707	356 404	5,46	6 060 960	92,86	109 343	1,68
Beogradski region	1 648 978	68 280	4,14	1 534 931	93,08	45 767	2,78
Region Vojvodine	1 707 502	107 094	6,27	1 578 876	92,47	21 532	1,26
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	1 787 518	93 785	5,25	1 669 251	93,38	24 482	1,37
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	1 382 709	87 245	6,31	1 277 902	92,42	17 562	1,27
Region Kosovo i Metohija*	…	…	…	…	…	…	…

^{* 2022 Census was not conducted on the territory of AP Kosovo and Metohija}

The highest participation of persons with disabilities in the total population aged two and over was recorded in the municipalities: Crna Trava (14.0%), Plandište (13.6%), Gadžin Han (10.4%) and Svrljig (10.0%). ), while the lowest participation of persons with disabilities was recorded in the municipalities: Preševo (1.1%), Tutin (1.9%), Novi Pazar (2.1%) and Bujanovac (2.4%). Note: The share of persons with disabilities in municipalities/cities where there are institutions for their permanent accommodation may be increased, which is especially obvious in the municipalities with a small number of inhabitants. In the contingent of people with disabilities (356 404), the most people have problems with walking (60%), while the smallest share of people have problems related to communication (12.8%).

Graph 1: Persons with disabilities aged two and over by type of problem and sex

Note: The sum of the columns in the table does not provide the total number of persons with disabilities, given that one person may have difficulties in performing daily activities due to two or more different problems.

Population aged two and over by disability status, sex and age

Persons with disabilities aged two and over by type of problem, sex and age