According to the Census of Population and Housing 2005, there were 21,040 persons who stated they had some form of long-term disability. Just over half of these were males, and the largest proportion, 38.1 per cent, were aged 65 and over, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

The most common disability was a physical impairment, with 32.0 per cent of the total citing this. This form of disability was the most common for all persons aged

25 and over, whereas for persons aged under 25 visual and intellectual impairments were the most common, followed by physical.

There were a total of 17,640 persons – 12.6 per cent of the total population living in private households – who were living in a private household where a person with a disability also resided. 83.1 per cent of these were living in a household with one person with a disability, 14.9 per cent in a household with two persons with a disability, and the remainder in a household with three or more persons having a disability.

The majority of persons having a disability were inactive (81.7 per cent), of whom 41.7 per cent were retired. 15.3 per cent of these persons said they were employed during 2005.

Between 1991 and 2006, government expenditure on disability benefits, as a percentage of government expenditure on all benefits, averaged 1.6 per cent.

This figure was highest in 1992, where expenditure on disability benefits made up 1.8 per cent of the total