Comparability — Botswana [top]

The 2001 and 2011 samples ask about economic status since Independence Day (i.e. over the past year). A person is considered to be "disabled" if they report to be "sick" and could not work or had to leave work as a result of illness or due to poor health conditions. Enumeration instructions further specify that a medical doctor could have made a recommendation that the person should not work at all, which suggests inability to engage in economic activities due to long term health conditions or disabilities.

Comparability — Brazil [top]

All samples include sick as well as permanently disabled persons, but only if the illness was sufficient reason for why they did not work in the previous year.

Comparability — Cameroon [top]

The 1976 and 1987 samples identify disabled or handicapped as possible activity responses for the previous week. In 2005, disability is listed as one option in reasons a person was not looking for work in the previous week.

Comparability — China [top]

The data for China include persons unable to work because of age.

Comparability — Colombia [top]

Both samples refer to persons permanently incapacitated for work.

The 1964 sample is not included in DISEMP because it combined disabled with institutionalized persons.

Comparability — Cuba [top]

The instructions say that impairment refers to a permanent disability that prevents the person from working.

Comparability — Dominican Republic [top]

The data come from economic activity source variables. Disabled and institutionalized persons are grouped in one category in the 1970 source variable. Disabled and elderly persons are grouped in one category in the 2002 source variable. In 2010, disabled persons are categorized separately.

Comparability — Ecuador [top]

The question relates the labor force status and lists being "disabled" as one of such possible conditions.

Comparability — Egypt [top]

For all samples (1986-2006), disabled persons are those reporting "disability/handicapped, unable to work" as employment status. This excludes retired people. The data are comparable across years.

Comparability — El Salvador [top]

The 1992 and 2007 samples identify persons who are unable to work due to a physical or mental disability. The question refers to the week prior to the census.

Comparability — Ethiopia [top]

The question wording and universe differs across samples. The 1984 and 1994 samples include persons who were not currently working due to disabilities; the 2007 sample includes persons not available to work next month due to disabilities. Most significantly, the 2007 census question was asked only of long-form respondents.

Comparability — Fiji [top]

The 1976, 1986 and 1996 samples identify disabled as the activity during the previous week. The 2007 identifies disability as a reason for not looking for work during the previous week. In 2014 the question relates to reason for economic inactivity in the past 12 months.

Comparability — Ghana [top]

The 1984 and 2000 samples identify disabled persons among those who did not work the week prior to the censuses. The 2010 sample identifies "disabled or too sick to work" as a reason for not working or not looking for work during the week prior to the census.

Comparability — Guinea [top]

The sample identifies people who had a serious physical or mental illness that prevented them from working.

Comparability — Haiti [top]

The 1982 sample identifies persons who "do not work because of illness" as one of the economic activities during the past 12 months. The 2003 sample lists being "disabled" as one of the economic activities during the previous month.

Comparability — Honduras [top]

The 1961 and 1974 samples have a different universe than the 1998, 2001, and 2013 samples. 1988, 2001, and 2013 censuses explicitly refer to permanent disability in the instructions.

Comparability — Indonesia [top]

The 1980-1995 samples identify persons not looking for work because of a physical or mental disability. The category labels define these populations as "incapable" or "unable" to work. In these samples, the question refers to the previous week.

The 1971 and 1976 samples classify this group as "Other", but it includes in the same category persons who perform other or no activities, or their only activity is a hobby. For this reason, these samples is not integrated for DISEMP variable.

Comparability — Ireland [top]

The samples are comparable. In the context of current employment status, the variable indicates if the person was "unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability".

Comparability — Italy [top]

The sample identifies anyone whose level of physical or mental invalidity makes it impossible for them to hold a job.

Comparability — Jamaica [top]

The samples are comparable, with a slight variation on the universe in 2001. The variable indicates if the person's main "activity" during the previous 12 months was being disabled.

Comparability — Jordan [top]

The sample identifies people who were not able to work because they are disabled.

Comparability — Kenya [top]

The 1989 and 1999 samples identify persons who could not work. The 2009 and 2019 samples include "incapacitated" as one of the economic activities in the last seven days.

Comparability — Kyrgyzstan [top]

The 2009 sample includes "illness or disability" as one of the reasons for not looking to work.

Comparability — Lesotho [top]

There was no explicit language in the census question regarding disability beyond the category label.

Comparability — Liberia [top]

The 2008 sample identifies "incapacitated" as a main economic activity during the past 12 months.

Comparability — Malawi [top]

The 2018 sample universe includes only people who did not work in the last week.

Comparability — Malaysia [top]

Both samples ask for the main reason for not seeking work last week.

Comparability — Mauritius [top]

The samples are comparable and ask about the reason for not working last week, which includes illness or disability as one response.

Comparability — Mexico [top]

All samples identify persons permanently incapacitated for work and refer to the previous week.

Comparability — Mongolia [top]

The 2000 sample includes people who were disabled and those not at work in the last seven days due to sickness. Pensioners and elderly are not included.

The 2010 and 2020 sample universes include only people who were not employed.

Comparability — Morocco [top]

The 1982-2004 samples refer to persons with a disability or illness preventing them from doing any job at the time of census.

Comparability — Mozambique [top]

All samples asked for the economic activity last week.

Comparability — Myanmar [top]

The 2014 sample asks whether the person was not economically active because of illness or disability.

Comparability — Nepal [top]

The person was considered unable to work due to disability if the disability or illness prevented them from working for at least 6 of the past 12 months.

Comparability — Nicaragua [top]

The 1995-2005 samples identify persons who have a permanent physical or mental disability that prevents them from performing an economic activity. The question on activity status refers to last week.

Comparability — Palestine [top]

The 2017 sample asks for the activity status of the respondent, including aging, along with disability and illness as a reason in the response category.

Comparability — Panama [top]

The 2010 sample includes being "permanently unable to work" as one of the reasons for not looking to work during the previous week.

Comparability — Papua New Guinea [top]

The 2000 census specifies permanent disability, while 1990 lacked that qualifier.

Comparability — Paraguay [top]

Both samples asked for the economic activity during the previous week.

Comparability — Peru [top]

Disability was not a defined category in the question about reason for not working. It was coded by the Peruvian census agency from a set of write-in responses for people who gave an "other" response to the question.

Comparability — Portugal [top]

The data consistently identify persons permanently incapable of working. There are much higher disability rates in 1981, although the instructions for the censuses look similar.

Comparability — South Africa [top]

In 1996 the census asked about employment status, in 2007 and 2011 censuses asked specifically about the reasons for not working. The 1996 and 2011 questionnaires mentioned only disabled persons. The 2007 census form and instructions appear to include people whose reason for not working was due to either illness or disability.

Comparability — South Sudan [top]

The variable indicates whether the reason for a person not working and not seeking work during the previous week was due to being "disabled or too sick".

Comparability — Spain [top]

The 2001 census question differed from those in 1981, 1991 and 2011. The earlier samples and 2011 sample include persons permanently incapacitated for work. The 2001 sample includes persons who have a disability pension and those who were unable to perform basic activities for whatever reason.

The age universe differs slightly across samples, with the minimum age changing from 15 in 1981-2001 to age 16 in 2011.

Comparability — Sudan [top]

The variable indicates whether the reason for a person not working and not seeking work during the previous week was due to being "disabled or too sick". The considerable amount of unknown responses represents those who did not work and were not seeking work, yet did not offer a reason for this economic inactivity.

Comparability — Suriname [top]

The 2012 sample identifies whether the respondent was "incapacitated to work" when asking about their activity status.

Comparability — Tanzania [top]

The 1988 response was simply "unable to work" and may overestimate disability rates.

The 2002 response distribution suggested the category was not consistent with an interpretation meaning disability; thus the sample is excluded from DISEMP. The 2012 sample is also excluded since it combined disability with old age as a reason for not working.

Comparability — Thailand [top]

The variable differs slightly across years. In 1980, the variable combines disabled and sick persons. Due to the range of category options in 1990 and 2000, the "unable to work" category is primarily meant to imply disability or illness but could include other cases.

Comparability — Trinidad and Tobago [top]

The 1970 sample uses the person's employment status during the past week to identify an employment disability, while the 1980-2011 samples refer to the past year.

Comparability — Uganda [top]

The data report persons who were "disabled". There was a separate response for too old to work.

Comparability — United Kingdom [top]

Both census questions asked whether the respondent had a health problem or disability that limited their daily activities or work they could do, including problems due to old age. The responses were reported in the context of economic activity, so only respondents not in the workforce are identified in the data.

Both samples restricted the question to exclude persons under age 16.

Comparability — Venezuela [top]

Each sample reports persons permanently disabled for purposes of work.

Comparability — Vietnam [top]

The 1989 and 1999 censuses report persons unable to work due to health reasons and are comparable. They did not mention permanent incapacity. The 2009 census variable indicates whether the reason the person was not available or did not look for work, given their unemployed status, was due to being disabled.