ILO · Disability Benefit Coverage
Disability benefit coverage by country
What share of people with severe disabilities receive a disability benefit?
Of the 189 countries compared in the 2025 edition, 55 countries shared the highest reading, 100.0%, and 6 countries shared the lowest reading, 0.0%. In the middle country the figure was 43.9%.
Share
Disability benefit coverage · the 2025 edition
Context statistic
55 countries share the highest value, 100.0% — no single country is named first.
01the 2025 edition · values only
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 189 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Highest in the 2025 edition · shared
55 countries share the highest reading, 100.0%
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
Albania
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Bulgaria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Belarus
Brazil
Brunei
Czechia
Germany
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
United Kingdom
Georgia
Greece
Greenland
Croatia
Hungary
Isle of Man
Ireland
Iceland
Israel
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Latvia
Macau
Moldova
Montenegro
Mongolia- and 15 more — every one is in the list below
Lowest in the 2025 edition
Vanuatu0.0%
South Sudan0.0%
Somalia0.0%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
02Every measured country
Disability benefit coverage on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 0.0–5.7%
- 5.9–25.5%
- 27.5–63.3%
- 63.8–100.0%
- No reading in the 2025 edition
- Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 45 measured · 49 members
38 share 100.0%
Andorra12.2%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Oceania
42.3%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 21 members
Australia100.0%2 share 0.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Asia
34.5%
the middle country, of 47 measured · 52 members
9 share 100.0%
Laos0.3%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
34.1%
the middle country, of 41 measured · 48 members
6 share 100.0%
Cayman Islands0.0%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Africa
3.3%
the middle country, of 41 measured · 55 members
Mauritius100.0%3 share 0.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Eastern Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
9 share 100.0%
Russia95.9%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 13 members
11 share 100.0%
11 share 100.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Southern Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 17 members
11 share 100.0%
Andorra12.2%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
7 share 100.0%
Monaco51.2%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Central Asia
84.6%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
2 share 100.0%
Uzbekistan44.5%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
51.9%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
2 share 100.0%
South Korea29.4%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- South America
43.4%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 12 members
3 share 100.0%
Bolivia7.0%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Polynesia
42.3%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 7 members
Tonga76.7%
Niue21.6%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
- Western Asia
31.9%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 19 members
4 share 100.0%
United Arab Emirates4.1%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Caribbean
25.5%
the middle country, of 17 measured · 24 members
Puerto Rico100.0%Cayman Islands0.0%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- South-eastern Asia
21.6%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
Brunei100.0%Laos0.3%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Asia
17.8%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Maldives63.8%
Bhutan0.7%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Central America
15.9%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 8 members
Costa Rica76.0%
Guatemala2.1%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Northern Africa
9.5%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 6 members
Libya84.3%
Sudan0.7%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Eastern Africa
3.0%
the middle country, of 14 measured · 19 members
Mauritius100.0%2 share 0.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Melanesia
2.4%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
New Caledonia59.9%2 share 0.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Western Africa
1.4%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 16 members
Cabo Verde52.7%
Guinea0.0%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Middle Africa
0.3%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe10.9%
Equatorial Guinea0.1%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia100.0%
New Zealand98.9%Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Micronesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Micronesia, Nauru, Palau.
Palau85.6%
Micronesia16.1%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
4 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, United States.
2 share 100.0%
Bermuda57.8%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Southern Africa
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa.
Namibia70.1%
Botswana2.7%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
189 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 43.9%; a quarter are above 100.0%, and a quarter below 9.1%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 189 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. Many countries reach 100%, so no position is shown — ordering a ceiling would invent differences that are not there. The figure counts people who receive a benefit, not how much it pays, and it is measured against an estimate of how many people have a severe disability, which is itself hard to count.
Showing 25 of 189 countries
Values for the 2025 edition.
05In this edition
Disability benefit coverage in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
Reached 55 times by 55 countries — shared, so no holder is named
100.0%
People with severe disabilities receiving disability benefits (%)
Lowest reading
Reached 6 times by 6 countries — shared, so no holder is named
0.0%
People with severe disabilities receiving disability benefits (%)
06By sex
Inside the number
International Labour Organization (ILO) also publishes separate female and male readings. The gap between them, where both exist.
Of the 95 countries with both readings, the women reading is higher in 12, the men reading in 24, and they are equal in 59. The widest gaps each way:
07The measure
About disability benefit coverage
This is the share of people with severe disabilities who receive a disability cash benefit. It is the disability part of the United Nations’ measure of social protection, and shows whether a disability that keeps someone from work also brings an income.
What the number is: People with severe disabilities receiving disability benefits (%).
08Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Governance & Institutions and Development & Human Capital, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Governance & InstitutionsDevelopment & Human CapitalWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where disability benefit coverage is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 152 countries in commonρ 0.81
- Women's Empowerment IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office and UN Women · 105 countries in commonρ 0.79
- Population Aged 65 and OverUN DESA Population Division · 189 countries in commonρ 0.77
Moves against
Where disability benefit coverage is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Coefficient of Human InequalityUNDP Human Development Report Office · 152 countries in commonρ −0.81
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 154 countries in commonρ −0.78
- Informal Employment RateILO · 86 countries in commonρ −0.78
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 380 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
09Keep reading
Explore further
The data, edition by edition
The countries at either end
10Questions
Disability benefit coverage: questions and answers
Which country has the highest disability benefit coverage?
55 countries share the highest reading, 100.0%, among the 189 compared in the 2025 edition, so no single country is named.
Which country has the lowest disability benefit coverage?
6 countries share the lowest reading, 0.0%, among the 189 compared in the 2025 edition, so no single country is named.
How many countries does the Disability Benefit Coverage cover?
189 in the 2025 edition.
What is the world average disability benefit coverage?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 189 compared in the 2025 edition, the figure was 43.9%.
Is this International Labour Organization (ILO)’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Disability Benefit Coverage published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2025.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From International Labour Organization (ILO), under CC BY 4.0. The disability part of SDG indicator 1.3.1, from the ILO’s World Social Protection Report, read from ILOSTAT directly. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
11Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Disability Benefit Coverage — International Labour Organization (ILO)
The disability part of SDG indicator 1.3.1, from the ILO’s World Social Protection Report, read from ILOSTAT directly.
Newest edition
Report year 2025Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: International Labour Organization. World Social Protection Report. Geneva: ILO.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2015 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Disability benefit coverage by country: Disability Benefit Coverage, data from International Labour Organization (ILO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/disability-benefit-coverage