SOUTH ASIA DISABILITY DATA WORKSHOP

About the Workshop

This workshop, organized by the PRASHO Foundation’s DDI team, shared findings from the Disability Data Initiative’s (DDI) analysis of disability data across eight South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The central question: How well does South Asia currently measure disability, and what do existing data reveal about the gaps experienced by persons with disabilities? The event convened researchers, representatives of national statistical offices and civil society organizations, and policymakers from across the region.

8	61	65	3,600+
South Asia Countries Covered	India Datasets Reviewed	Countries in the DS-E Database	Datasets in the DS-QR Database

Calls to Action

Governments	Statistics Offices	Civil Society	Researchers & Practitioners
Embed disability data collection and analysis in planning from the outset – not as an afterthought.	Prioritize the WG-SS and Child Functioning Module in national surveys and censuses (including NFHS-6 in India).	Use disability data to hold governments and funders accountable.	Invest in comparable, interoperable systems so every person is counted across South Asia.

Background: Why Measurement Matters

The functional approach to disability measurement is more comprehensive and inclusive in identifying persons at risk of being excluded than the medical approach. It makes it possible to disaggregate education, employment, and poverty indicators and derive policy-relevant insight.
As an illustrative example raised by a speaker: Nepal’s 2021 Census, which used impairment questions based on the medical model, recorded 2.2% disability prevalence, while the 2022–23 NLSS, using the functional model, recorded 8.1%. Both figures are valid – they measure different things, illustrating why the choice of approach matters.

Key Findings

From the Disability Statistics – Questionnaire Review (DS-QR Database)

Overall, in South Asia, functional disability data is insufficiently collected or used to drive policy.
In India, of 61 national datasets under review, not one includes the Washington Group Short Set (WG-SS) – a critical gap for the world’s most populous country.
Four of 27 national surveys and censuses reviewed for Nepal over the 2009–2025 period include functional disability questions.
Bhutan stands out as a regional leader: out of 15 datasets reviewed, four include the WG-SS.

Reviewed datasets with WG-SS by Country (DS-QR Database)

Country	Datasets	WG-SS Status
Bhutan	15	✓ 4 datasets
Nepal	3	✓ NLSS + MICS
Sri Lanka	6	✓ Most datasets
Pakistan	1	Partial (health (DHS))
Bangladesh	5	✓ Included
India	61	✗ None
Afghanistan	2	✓ Included
Maldives	3	Positive indicators

From the Disability Statistics – Estimates (DS-E Database)

Overall, in South Asia, persons with disabilities experience substantial inequalities across sectors.
In Nepal, 80% of persons with disabilities (any difficulty) face multidimensional poverty compared to 50% for persons without disabilities – a disability gap of 30 percentage points.
In Bhutan, 82% of persons with disabilities live in multidimensional poverty, versus 61% among those without.
In Bhutan, only 14% of adults with severe disabilities have ever been to school.
In Maldives and Nepal, women with disabilities face significantly more problems accessing healthcare compared to women without disabilities.
In Nepal, higher employment rates among persons with disabilities reflects informal, subsistence-level work rather than meaningful integration – a pattern also seen elsewhere globally.

DDI Databases (Free, Public Access)

DS-QR Database (DDI 2025a)

Reviews 3,600+ datasets across 206 countries to document WG-SS inclusion. Helps advocates identify where persons with disabilities remain invisible in data.

DS-E Database (DDI 2025b)

Provides disability-disaggregated estimates for 65 countries across education, employment, poverty, health, and standard of living. Filterable by sex, age, and rural/urban.

Organized By

PRASHO Foundation / Disability Data Initiative (DDI)

Moderated by Haritha Boopalan & Kavi (PRASHO Foundation)

Report prepared by PRASHO Foundation / DDI Team

Key References

References	Description
CRPD Article 31	Obliges state parties to collect and disaggregate disability data to track the implementation of the CRPD.
Washington Group Short Set (WG-SS)	Six questions on functional difficulty – recommended for national surveys and censuses to ensure comparability.
UNICEF Child Functioning Module (CFM)	Functional difficulty question sets developed specifically for children; not yet deployed at the national scale in any South Asian country.
DDI (2025a)	Disability Statistics – Questionnaire Review Database (DS-QR Database) Disability Data Initiative collective. Fordham University: New York, USA.
DDI (2025b)	Disability Statistics – Estimates Database (DS-E Database) Disability Data Initiative collective. Fordham University: New York, USA.