2.65 Million Registered Disabled Last Year... Increased Proportion of Elderly and Hearing Disabilities

Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2022 Registered Disabled Persons Status Statistics

Last year, the number of registered persons with disabilities in South Korea was approximately 2.65 million, accounting for about 5.2% of the total population.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "2022 Registered Persons with Disabilities Status Statistics" released on the 19th, among the 15 types of disabilities, the most common type was physical disability (44.3%). This was followed by hearing impairment (16.0%), visual impairment (9.5%), brain lesion disability (9.3%), and intellectual disability (8.5%).

Trend of Registered Persons with Disabilities per Population. Data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare

Among the 80,000 newly registered persons with disabilities last year, hearing impairment accounted for the highest proportion at 32%. The proportion of hearing impairment has been gradually increasing from 10.4% in 2011. Developmental disabilities and kidney disabilities are also on the rise. On the other hand, physical disabilities have decreased from 52.9% in 2011.

By age group, those in their 60s accounted for 626,000 people (23.6%), and those in their 70s accounted for 574,000 people (21.6%). Among the newly registered persons with disabilities last year, those in their 70s numbered 20,000, accounting for 24.7%. The proportion of registered persons with disabilities aged 65 and over has steadily increased to 52.8% (1,402,000 people).

Among registered persons with disabilities, 984,000 (37.1%) had severe disabilities, while 1,669,000 (62.9%) had mild disabilities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.