People with disability in Australia 2026

Figure POPULATION.1 provides a quick comparison between the total population of Australia and three key disability cohorts, which include:

• all people with disability
• National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants
• recipients of the Disability Support Pension (DSP).

Data about these 3 cohorts of people with disability comes from different sources. These data sources differ in their coverage and timeliness of data. The latest estimates for the number of people with disability in Australia are from survey data collected in 2022, while information about DSP recipients and NDIS participants comes from government records, with the latest data from 2025. To compare these groups, the latest data are used, even though they are drawn from different years.

There are some differences in the age structure of these 4 groups (Figure POPULATION.1):

• People with disability are older, on average, than those without disability; 42% of people with disability are aged 65 or over (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024b), compared with 18% in the total Australian population (ABS 2025b).
• DSP recipients have the largest share of older working age adults (aged 45–64). As at December 2025, nearly half (49%) of DSP recipients were in that age group (DSS 2026a). This is in line with DSP’s purpose of providing financial support to people of working age who cannot work due to disability.
• NDIS participants have the youngest age profile of all populations, with 42% aged under 15 (NDIA 2026).

There are slightly more females than males among people with disability (Figure POPULATION.1). However, more than half of DSP recipients and NDIS participants are male.

• 48% of people with disability were born male and 51% female (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024c).
• In comparison, 53% of DSP recipients (DSS 2026) and 61% of NDIS participants are male (NDIA 2026).

There are higher proportions of First Nations (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) people in the DSP and NDIS cohorts than in the broader disability population, or in the total population of Australia:

• In 2022, there were 183,700 First Nations people with disability living in households (ABS 2025a). This represented 3.5% of the estimated 5.3 million people with disability living in households (ABS 2024a). It should be noted that these numbers do not include very remote areas or discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.
• 3.8% of the total Australian population identify as First Nations people (ABS 2023).
• 8.3% of NDIS participants and 8.8% of DSP recipients identify as First Nations people (NDIA 2026, DSS 2026a).

People with disability are less likely to be born outside Australia or in a non-English speaking country than people in the general population:

• 32% of people in Australia were born overseas, including 24% in non-English speaking countries (ABS 2025b)
• 26% of people with disability were born overseas, including 15% in non-English speaking countries (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024c)
• 14% of DSP recipients were born in non-English speaking countries (DSS 2026b)
• 8.7% of NDIS participants are from CALD backgrounds (born in non-English speaking countries and/or mainly use a language other than English at home) (NDIA 2026).

People with disability are more likely to live in regional or remote areas than people without disability:

• 35% of people with disability live outside of Major cities (AIHW analysis of ABS 2025b), compared with 27% in the total population (AIHW 2025)
• 31% of NDIS participants (NDIS 2026) and 37% of DSP recipients (DSS 2026b) live outside of Major cities.