Katrin Langensiepen· Verts/ALE

Nuanced

There are 100 million people with disabilities in the EU.

Omissions

• The official European Commission figure is 'around 87 million' people with disabilities
• The 100 million figure comes from disability advocacy organizations (EDF) rather than official statistical sources
• Eurostat's 2024 data shows 23.9% of people aged 16+ have disabilities, which calculates to approximately 90-96 million people depending on population estimates
• Different definitions of disability and age ranges (16+ vs all ages) produce varying estimates
• The session date (2026-03-11) is after the publication of 2024 Eurostat data, so this data would have been available to the MEP

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat - Population with disability Statistics Explained23.9% of people aged 16 years or over in the EU had a disability (activity limitation) in 2024
• PrimaryCouncil of the European Union - Disability in the EU: facts and figures24% of the EU population over the age of 16 had some form of disability in 2024, equaling 90 million people
• PrimaryEuropean Commission - Persons with disabilities in the EUAround 87 million people in the EU have some form of disability
• SecondaryEuropean Disability Forum (EDF) - How many persons with disabilities live in the EU?Over 100 million persons with disabilities living in the European Union