Overview

Person With Disability Statistics (PWD), Malaysia, 2023 is the second publication published by Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) which displayed disability statistics based on the survey and administrative data obtained from various agencies. This publication presents seven areas, namely population, health, education, employment, income and expenditure, welfare services and sport. Statistics on sport area are new statistics covered in this year’s publication. The compilation of PWD statistics are based on The Handbook on Social Indicators, which was published by The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

The main findings in terms of population showed the cumulative number of registered PWD at the Department of Social Welfare as at 2023 was 736,607 persons or 2.2 per cent of the Malaysia’s population. The learning disability category recorded the highest registration at 265,503 persons.

In the health sector, the number of PWD receiving health treatment in 2023 increased by 15.5 per cent to 4,551 persons as compared to 3,940 persons in 2022. PWD with learning disability recorded the highest number of persons who received health treatment at 85.9 per cent. This was followed by physical (8.6%) and speech (2.8%) categories. The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MoH) recorded a total of 831 infants aged less than one year who were diagnosed as having disability in 2023. Meanwhile, 1,453 children aged 18 months were suspected of having autism in the same year.

Findings in the education field showed that the number of special education schools recorded in 2023 was 34 schools consisting of 28 primary schools and six secondary schools. The number of special education school teachers at the primary level in 2023 decreased by 1.0 per cent to 826 teachers. Meanwhile, the number of special education school teachers at the secondary level increased by 2.4 per cent to 473 teachers in the same period. The number of special education school pupils at the primary and secondary levels also recorded an increase in 2023 at 17.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively to 1,736 pupils and 1,055 pupils.

As for employment, there were 3,856 civil servants with disabilities serving in 2023, an increase of 3.5 per cent as compared to 3,724 persons in 2022. The physical category recorded the highest percentage of 65.2 per cent in 2023, followed by the visually impaired (20.4%) and hearing (8.7%) categories. Based on the services group, the majority of civil servants with disabilities (66.3%) were under the support group. This was followed by management & professionals (33.5%) and top management (0.2%) groups.

As for welfare services, a total of 761 PWD resided in Taman Sinar Harapan in 2023 and 96 PWD were registered as trainees at Bengkel Daya in the same year. Meanwhile, the Industrial Training and Rehabilitation Center received a total of 11 PWD trainees in 2023 for various training schemes.

Sports statistics involving PWD showed the number of disabled athletes increased by 18.3 per cent in 2023 to 71 persons as compared to 60 persons in 2022. The majority of the athletes were 58 males as compared to 13 females. In terms of type of sport, athletic recorded the highest number of athletes with 30 persons. This was followed by swimming (10 persons) and boccia (9 persons).

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Baharudin Mohamad

Public Relation Officer

Email: baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my

Phone: 03 8885 7942

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