Pakistan, Disability and the Sustainable Development Goals

Author: Cynthia Sohail
Published: 12 Jan 2021 - Updated: 4 Nov 2026
Publication Type: Opinion Piece, Editorial

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Definition - Overview - FAQs - Insights, Updates - Related Content

Synopsis

This paper argues that Pakistan cannot reach the Sustainable Development Goals without fully including people with disabilities, drawing on World Health Organization data that 1.3 billion people, about 16 percent of the world's population, live with significant disability. It explains how Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2011 yet still leaves many disabled people out of school, work and health care, and how the SDGs name disability in goals on education, decent work, inequality, cities and data. It also covers the hard road to a disability certificate, the 2020 rights law for Islamabad, the effects of COVID-19, and practical steps such as inclusive schools and simpler certification. The paper is useful for policymakers, advocates, families and people with disabilities in Pakistan and in other countries facing the same gaps.*

At a Glance

• 1 - Women with disabilities face two to four times the risk of partner violence.
• 2 - Some people with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than people without disabilities.
• 3 - The 2017 census counted less than 0.48 percent of Pakistanis as disabled, against 2.38 percent in 1998.
• 4 - Inaccessible and unaffordable transport is 15 times more difficult for people with disabilities, according to WHO.

Topic Definition

Disability-Inclusive Development

Disability-inclusive development is an approach to development in which people with disabilities take part in, shape and benefit from policies, programs and services on an equal basis with others, so that progress toward goals such as ending poverty, quality education and decent work reaches them too. It rests on the human rights principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and focuses on removing physical, communication, attitudinal and policy barriers, collecting data broken down by disability, and involving disabled people and their organizations in decisions.

Overview

In 2011 the World Health Organization and the World Bank published the first World Report on Disability, which brought global attention to how many people live with disability and how often they are left out of development. More than a decade later, WHO estimates that 1.3 billion people, about 16 percent of the world's population, experience significant disability, and that the number is growing as people live longer and noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and stroke become more common [World Health Organization, 2023]. Pakistan, one of the most populous countries in the world, cannot reach the Sustainable Development Goals unless people with disabilities are part of its plans.

Inequality Despite Laws and Commitments

Pakistan signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008 and ratified it on July 5, 2011 [United Nations Treaty Collection, n.d.]. The Convention requires countries to ensure the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in education, health care, employment and public life. Yet people with disabilities in Pakistan still face wide gaps. Many children with disabilities do not attend school, adults with disabilities are less likely to find paid work, and households that include a disabled member are more likely to be poor.

These gaps are not only about health. Disability results from the interaction between a person's health condition and the barriers around them, including stigma, discrimination, inaccessible buildings and transport, and exclusion from education and employment [World Health Organization, 2023]. WHO reports that people with disabilities face many health inequities, that some die up to 20 years earlier than people without disabilities, and that they find inaccessible and unaffordable transport 15 times more difficult [World Health Organization, 2023].

Women and Girls With Disabilities

Women and girls with disabilities are especially exposed to abuse. Worldwide, women with disabilities are two to four times more likely to experience intimate partner violence than women without disabilities [World Health Organization, 2023]. In Pakistan, reliable national data on violence against women and girls with disabilities is scarce, which makes it harder to plan protection, support services and access to justice. Global research shows that women and girls with disabilities also face extra barriers when they try to report abuse.

Disability and the Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all UN member states in 2015, promises to leave no one behind. Disability is referenced in the SDGs in the goals on education (Goal 4), decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), reducing inequality (Goal 10), inclusive and accessible cities (Goal 11), and data and monitoring (Goal 17) [United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.]. Ending poverty, the first goal, is closely tied to disability as well, because disability and poverty feed each other: disability can bring lost income and extra costs, and poverty raises the risk of illness and injury.

Under the social model of disability, a person who uses a wheelchair is shut out of a job not because they cannot walk, but because the office has steps, the bus is inaccessible or the employer holds negative attitudes. When family, society and government remove those barriers, a diagnosis of disability need not stop someone from taking part in daily life and work.

The Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic widened existing gaps. Movement restrictions and the economic downturn hit many low-income households hard, and people with disabilities often lost access to services, therapy and the informal help they rely on. WHO notes that people with disabilities are more likely to be affected by health emergencies, both directly and indirectly [World Health Organization, 2023]. Some international organizations gave financial help to families of people with disabilities, but in Pakistan, as in many countries, little data was collected on how many people with disabilities died of COVID-19, received government assistance or recovered.

Disability Certificates and Benefits

In Punjab, assessment boards based at District Headquarter hospitals examine applicants and issue disability certificates, under the oversight of the Punjab Social Welfare Department, and other provinces run similar systems. A certificate is the gateway to benefits such as places reserved under employment quotas, travel concessions, free or subsidized medical care and financial assistance.

Getting a certificate can be hard. Applicants usually need to travel to a district hospital, collect documents and attend medical assessments, which is costly and tiring for people with mobility impairments or chronic illness and for families who live far from district towns. Many drop out of the process, leaving them without the support the system was designed to provide and adding to the high rate of poverty among people with disabilities.

The legal framework has also moved forward. The ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2020 sets out rights for people with disabilities in the Islamabad Capital Territory, including equality before the law, ease of access and mobility, equity in education and health care, independent living, political participation and access to justice [Government of Pakistan, 2020]. Provinces have passed or updated their own disability laws, but putting them into practice and enforcing them remains uneven.

Employment and Attitudes

Many people with disabilities in Pakistan hold degrees and have valuable skills but struggle to find work, especially in the private sector. Employers may turn applicants away because of their appearance, speech or assumptions about intellectual ability, and workplaces are rarely adapted. Discouragement from society, family and institutions can wear down even highly capable job seekers, and employment quotas only help when they are filled and enforced.

Counting People With Disabilities

Good policy depends on good data, and Pakistan's disability figures are widely questioned. Provisional results of the 2017 census recorded people with disabilities as less than 0.48 percent of a total population of about 207.8 million, compared with 2.38 percent in the 1998 census. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics officials said the decision to count disabled people separately, taken after a Supreme Court order, came late and may have affected the count [Associated Press of Pakistan, 2017]. Set against the WHO global estimate of 16 percent [World Health Organization, 2023], the census figure is almost certainly a large undercount, and many agencies working on disability still lack dependable numbers.

What Can Be Done

People with disabilities have, on average, lower levels of education and employment and higher levels of poverty, and they frequently face marginalization, discrimination and violence. Practical steps to change this include:

• Training teachers in inclusive education and making schools physically accessible.
• Providing affordable assistive technology, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids and screen readers.
• Making toilets, public buildings, transport and websites accessible.
• Simplifying the disability certificate process, for example with mobile assessment camps and online applications.
• Enforcing employment quotas and opening both competitive and supported job opportunities.
• Using internationally comparable disability questions in the next census and in national surveys.

Above all, the voices of people with disabilities and their organizations must be central when these actions are planned, so that the services built are the ones people actually need and want.

Frequently Asked Questions

NOTE: Researched FAQs by Disabled World (DW)

What is the Washington Group Short Set of disability questions?

It is a set of six questions on difficulty seeing, hearing, walking, remembering, self-care and communicating, used in censuses and surveys worldwide to produce comparable disability data.

How can a person in Pakistan apply for a disability certificate?

Applicants usually apply through the provincial social welfare department and attend an assessment by a medical board at a district hospital. Requirements vary by province, so the local social welfare office is the best first contact.

What is a CNIC with a disability logo?

Pakistan issues national identity cards that can show a disability logo for certified persons with disabilities, which helps them access concessions and services.

What does leave no one behind mean in the 2030 Agenda?

It is the central promise of the Sustainable Development Goals that progress must reach the poorest and most excluded groups, including people with disabilities, rather than only national averages.

Which SDG target covers disability data?

Target 17.18 calls for more high-quality, timely data broken down by characteristics including disability, so that countries can see who is being left behind.

What is community-based inclusive development?

It is an approach in which local communities make schools, health care, jobs and social life inclusive of people with disabilities, building on earlier community-based rehabilitation programs.

How does disability affect household poverty?

Disability can lower earnings and add costs for health care, transport and assistive devices, while caregivers may have to reduce paid work, all of which push families toward poverty.

Where can people with disabilities in Pakistan find support?

Support can come from provincial social welfare departments, disabled persons organizations, special education centers and charities that provide assistive devices, training and advocacy.

References

• Associated Press of Pakistan. (2017, September 12). Disabled constitute just 0.48% of total population.
• Government of Pakistan. (2020). ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2020.
• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and disability.
• United Nations Treaty Collection. (n.d.). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Status of ratification.
• World Health Organization. (2023, March 7). Disability [Fact sheet].

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Editorial Note: Counting is where inclusion starts, and a census that records under half a percent of the population as disabled leaves millions of people invisible to the budgets and programs meant to reach them. The gap between Pakistan's commitments, from the UN Convention to its 2020 rights law, and daily life is widest for people outside big cities, who must travel far and pay out of pocket just to prove they qualify for help. Simpler certification, enforced job quotas, accessible schools and transport, and better data would each make a measurable difference within a few years. The most reliable way to get those details right is to give disabled people and their organizations a real seat at the table when plans are made.*

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally issued as a press release by Cynthia Sohail and published on 12 Jan 2021. Last updated on 4 Nov 2026. This content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.

* Editorial additions by Ian C. Langtree.