Self-assessed health status

Disabled people were far less likely to say they had very good or excellent health – only 10 percent said their health was excellent compared with 33 percent of non-disabled people.

Disabled people were more likely than non-disabled to say their health was good or fair/poor. Over a quarter (29 percent) rated their health fair or poor compared with only 4 percent of non-disabled people. These patterns were similar for men and women.

Within the disabled population, there is no evidence of any difference between males and females in terms of self-assessed health.

An overall health status rating of excellent was more likely for disabled children (29 percent) than disabled adults 15+ (8 percent). An overall health status rating of fair or poor was less likely for disabled children (14 percent) than disabled adults 15+ (30 percent).

Overall life satisfaction

Life satisfaction is measured on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is the lowest and 10 is the highest level of satisfaction.

While the majority of adults rated their overall life satisfaction at 8 or higher, disabled adults were far less likely than non-disabled adults to report this (55 percent for disabled compared with 72 percent for non-disabled).

Disabled adults were also more likely than non-disabled to report an overall life satisfaction below 5 (7 percent compared with 2 percent of non-disabled). This pattern was similar for men and women.

Compared with younger disabled adults, those aged 65+ were less likely to rate their overall life satisfaction score as below 5 (4 percent) and more likely to rate their overall life satisfaction as 8 or above (67 percent).