Muscat: The 2020 e-census revealed that the number of Omani people with disabilities reached 42,304 (1.55% of Omani citizens).
The rate of people with disabilities was about 15.5 per thousand of the Omani population. The highest rate was registered Al Dhahirah Governorate at 18.5 per thousand, while the lowest rate was in Al Wusta Governorate at 10.1 per thousand, according to the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The e-census 2020 data showed that about 25% of people with disabilities were registered in North Al Batina Governorate, where they accounted for 22.2% of the total number of people with disabilities, followed by the Governorate of Muscat with a percentage of 15.9%, then Al Dakhiliyah Governorate with 14%, while the lowest percentage came in Al Wusta Governorate.
The data indicate that 36.6 % of people with disabilities live in seven wilayats across the Sultanate, namely Al Seeb, Sohar, Al Suwaiq, Ibri, Saham, Al Rustaq and Salalah).
Furthermore, 18% of people with disabilities are concentrated in the age group of 60 and above.
54.6% of the aforementioned group have congenital disabilities and 36.2% of them have disease-caused disabilities.
In terms of disability type, the data show that 34% of people with disabilities have hearing disabilities, then physical disabilities by 23.7%.
Hearing disabilities constituted the largest percentage in all governorates, except in the Governorate of Dhofar, where physical disabilities reached 31.4% of the total people with disabilities there.
The data indicate that 21.1% of the total number of people with disabilities in the Sultanate are concentrated in the North Al Batinah Governorate, and constitute 23.2% of the total people with disabilities in the same governorate. As for albinism, only one disability was recorded in the Governorate of Muscat.
The electronic census 2020 data further indicate that the hearing disability was the highest in all age groups except for the category of below 10 years and the age group between (40-44) years, as the physical disability constituted the largest number in the two groups.
As for Autism Spectrum Disorder, it is registered in the age group of people below 20 years, at a rate of 95%, and the Down Syndrome Disability came in the category under 30 years old, by 89%.
As for the causes of disability, the data show that 86% of hearing disabilities were congenital, and 63% of visual disabilities resulted from diseases.
Moreover, 97.5% of bachelor’s-degree-and-above holders with disabilities have hearing, physical, and visual disabilities, and 34.5% of the people with hearing disabilities have qualifications below the general diploma, followed by the illiterate at 22.5 percent.
The data further indicate that 16.1% of people with disabilities in the age group of 6 years and above are currently enrolled in education, and that 52% have previously enrolled in education. 84.9% of people with disabilities currently enrolled are in the age group between 6-9 years.
As for the total number of people with disabilities who have never enrolled in education, they were concentrated in the elderly category aged 60 and above. This group constituted 61.4% of the total number of people with disabilities.
As for the professional aspect, the data indicate that 33% of the total people with disabilities in the age group of 15 years and above are employed, and 51.6% of them have hearing disabilities. 82% of this category work in the public and private sectors (84.6% males, and 15.4% females). 20.1% work in clerical professions, while the total number of retired people with disabilities is 3,341.
As for the percentage of married people with disabilities, it reached 42%, and most of them are males. The married people in the age group of 60 years and above constituted 34.7% of all married people with disabilities.
The data also indicate that 9,359 people with disabilities own vehicles, constituting 1.4% of the total owners of private vehicles in the Sultanate. --ONA
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