Nearly a Quarter of People Aged 16 and Over in the EU Has a Disability, 2024 Eurostat Data Reports

Nearly a Quarter of People Aged 16 and Over in the EU Has a Disability, 2024 Eurostat Data Reports

In July 2025, Eurostat published the latest data on the share of people in the European Union with a disability – considered as general long-standing limitations in usual activities due to health problems. It reported that, in 2024, 23.9% of people aged 16 years or over in the EU had a disability (either some or severe activity limitation). 17.2% of people reported some limitation and 6.7% reported a severe limitation

Across the EU countries, the share of people who reported a disability in 2024 ranged from 12.7% in Bulgaria, 14.2% in Malta and 14.5% in Italy to 41.2% in Latvia. Looking in more detail, Latvia recorded the highest share of people reporting a severe limitation (11.1%) as well as the highest share of people reporting some limitation (30.1%).

In 2024, males were less likely than females to report a disability. A further analysis shows that this gender gap was present in the EU in 2024 regardless of the severity of the activity limitation. The share of people reporting a disability with severe limitation was 1.2 points higher among females than among males, while the gap was wider for people with some limitation, at 3.4 points. 

Self-reported disability has a distinct age pattern, as people in higher age groups are more likely than people in lower age groups to report some or severe limitations. In 2024, the share of people aged 16 to 24 years who reported (some or severe) disability was 7.1% within the EU; the highest share was recorded among people aged 85 years or over, at 72.3%.

Eurostat data on the share of people in the European Union with a disability is available here.