2008年-世界发展银行全球_Disability_Poverty_and_Schooling_in_Developing_Countries___Results_from_14_Household_Surveys_23页_240kb

Summary of Disability, Poverty, and Schooling in Developing Countries: Results from 14 Household Surveys

Core Content

This study analyzes the relationship between disability, poverty, and schooling using data from 14 nationally representative household surveys in 13 developing countries. It highlights the significant challenges faced by children with disabilities in accessing education and the long-term consequences of these challenges on poverty levels in adulthood.

Main Findings

• Prevalence of Disability: The prevalence of disability among children aged 6–17 ranges from 0.49% in Chad to 3.20% in Mongolia, with an overall average of 1.2%. The definition of disability varies across surveys, with some focusing on physical impairments and others including mental, visual, and hearing disabilities.

• Association with Poverty: Adults with disabilities are more likely to live in poorer households. Disability is associated with a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of falling in the two poorest quintiles. However, children with disabilities do not live in systematically poorer or richer households than their non-disabled peers, though they are significantly less likely to start school.

• School Participation Deficit: The school participation deficit among children with disabilities is often larger than that associated with gender, rural residence, or economic status. In three of the 13 countries, the deficit reaches up to 50 percentage points, indicating a severe barrier to education.

• Vicious Cycle: The study suggests a worrying cycle where disability leads to lower educational attainment, which in turn increases the likelihood of poverty in adulthood. This highlights the long-term economic and social consequences of early educational exclusion.

Key Points

Data and Methodology

• Surveys Used: The study draws on 14 surveys from 13 countries, including the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS), End of Millennium Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS2), and national socioeconomic surveys (SES).

• Sample Size: Most surveys include 5,000–25,000 households, with India and Indonesia having the largest samples (88,512 and 65,762 households, respectively).

• Disability Measurement: Surveys primarily use impairment-based definitions, aligning with the World Health Organization's ICF framework, which includes body functioning, activities, and participation. However, selective reporting is a concern, as some groups may report disabilities more frequently due to socioeconomic factors.

• Poverty Measurement: For LSMS and SES surveys, poverty is measured using per capita consumption expenditures. For DHS and MICS2, an economic status index based on assets and housing is used.

Country-Specific Insights

• India and Indonesia show the strongest associations between disability and poverty, likely due to their large sample sizes.
• Bolivia, Chad, Colombia, and others also show a significant link between disability and lower school participation, though the association with poverty is less clear.
• Mongolia has the highest prevalence of disability among children, but the association with poverty is not as strong as in other countries.

Limitations

• Data Heterogeneity: The surveys differ in disability definitions and measurement methods, which may affect cross-country comparisons.
• Selective Reporting: There is a risk that wealthier groups may report disabilities more frequently, potentially underestimating the true relationship between disability and poverty.
• Small Sample Sizes: Some surveys have very few disabled individuals, which limits the statistical power of the analysis.

Conclusion and Policy Implications

• The study underscores the systematic link between disability and lower educational attainment, which in turn leads to higher poverty rates in adulthood.
• It calls for better data collection on disability and its interactions with education and poverty, to support more effective policy interventions.
• The findings suggest that improving school access for children with disabilities is crucial to breaking the cycle of poverty and poor education outcomes.

Key Recommendations

• Standardized Definitions: Use more consistent and comprehensive definitions of disability to improve comparability across countries.
• Enhanced Data Collection: Expand data collection to include more detailed information on disability types and their impact on education and poverty.
• Targeted Interventions: Implement policies that address the barriers to education faced by children with disabilities, especially in low-income settings.

Table Highlights

Note: The association with poverty is only statistically significant in India and Indonesia in the analysis.