The National Disability Data Asset logo which is a curved colourful line connected to dots to symbolise linking people and data

Measuring disability in the National Disability Data Asset

The National Disability Data Asset brings together information from different government agencies about all Australians. This will help us to better understand and meet the needs of people with disability. All data will be de‑identified so no one can find out who people are or contact them.

Based on early data that will be in the disability data asset, we have designed the first set of disability indicators. We designed the indicators with people with disability, their representatives and experts in disability data.

Understanding disability indicators

Disability indicators are types of information about disability. For example, how many people have disability and what disability they have. Indicators help us to consistently include and describe people with disability in the disability data asset.

First disability indicators

The first set of indicators is about disability-related government payments and services.

The indicators include people who:

This doesn’t represent all people with disability in Australia.

What the first disability indicators tell us

Looking at the data from 2022, the first set of disability indicators shows that 1.4 million people received disability-related government payments and services during that year. That is 5.4% of the population. Of this group, 812,000 were male and 593,400 were female.

In 2022, the number of people who received disability-related government payments and services included:

The indicators also show people who received disability-related government payments and services in 2022 included:

Limits and gaps in the current data

We can compare some data from the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) with the data from the first disability indicators. This gives us an idea about how well the indicators include different groups of people with disability.

For example, the SDAC shows there were 5.5 million Australians with disability in 2022. The first indicators include 1.4 million people receiving disability-related government payments and services. This tells us that the data from the first indicators doesn’t cover as many people with disability in Australia.

Many things can affect the data we have about people with disability. For example:

Groups that the first disability indicators don’t represent well include:

You can find more information about the limits of the way we identify people with disability at www.ndda.gov.au/research-projects/insights

Improving the future disability indicators

In the future, we want to include more groups of people with disability in the disability data asset. Future releases of the indicators will aim to:

Adding data from states and territories will help achieve these aims. We will also design future indicators with people with disability, their representatives and experts in disability data.

Find more information about the National Disability Data Asset at ndda.gov.au or by emailing NDDA@dss.gov.au.

Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia, 2022; custom Person Level Integrated Data Asset 2022 dataset using approved disability data asset indicators approach.