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experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher for developing countries.

Persons with disabilities are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes such as less education, poorer health outcomes, lower levels of employment, and higher poverty rates.? Poverty may increase the risk of disability through malnutrition, inadequate access to education and health care, unsafe working conditions, a polluted environment, and lack of access to safe water and sanitation. Disability may also exacerbate the risk of poverty, through lack of education and resulting limited employment opportunities, lower wages, and increased cost of living with a disability.

Barriers to full social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities include inaccessible physical environments and transportation, the unavailability of assistive devices and technologies, non-adapted means of communication, gaps in service delivery, and discriminatory prejudice and stigma in society.

Households with disabled persons are disproportionately food insecure due to constrained economic resources due to higher poverty and lower employment rates than persons without disabilities. In situations of humanitarian crisis and conflict, persons with disabilities are more likely to face violence, exploitation or abuse and have two to four times higher mortality rates.

Last Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Including persons with disabilities and expanding equitable opportunities are at the core of the World Bank¡¯s work to build sustainable, inclusive communities, aligned with the institution¡¯s goals to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.

ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº integrates disability into development through its analytical work, data collection, and good-practice policies. The Bank also addresses disability issues in its operations across a wide range of sectors, including promoting access to infrastructure facilities and social services, rehabilitation, skills development, creating economic opportunities, and working with organizations for persons with disabilities, focusing on the most vulnerable among people with disabilities¡ªsuch as women and children¡ªand influencing policies and institutional development. The?Global Disability Advisor¡¯s team serves as a focal point for ongoing advisory and analytical support to operational teams on disability-inclusive approaches in project design and implementation. ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº revised its  in 2022, the  of which was launched in June 2018, to offer a roadmap for:?

1. Including disability in the World Bank¡¯s policies, operations, and analytical work; and
2. Building internal capacity for supporting clients in implementing disability-inclusive development programs.?

The framework is relevant to policymakers, government officials, other development organizations, and persons with disabilities.

In July 2018, the World Bank Group made?Ten Commitments?to accelerate global action for disability-inclusive development in key areas such as education, digital development, data collection, gender, post-disaster reconstruction, transport, private sector investments, and social protection.? ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº Group has updated some of these commitments in 2022 as it continues to invest in disability-inclusive development. These are:?

1. Ensuring that all World Bank-financed education programs and projects are disability-inclusive by 2025.
2. Ensuring that all World Bank-financed digital development projects are disability sensitive, including through the use of universal design and accessibility standards.?
3. Scaling up disability data collection and use, including by strengthening institutions and building capacity to reduce gaps in the availability of disability-disaggregated core data for evidence-based policy making, guided by global standards and best practices, such as using the?.
4. Analyze data on the socio-economic inclusion of women with disabilities in legal and policy frameworks by the??team to build evidence for better protection of the rights of women with disabilities in World Bank operations.?
5. Ensuring that all projects financing public facilities in post-disaster reconstruction are disability-inclusive.
6. Ensuring that all World Bank-financed urban mobility and rail projects that support public transport services are disability-inclusive by 2025.?
7. Enhancing due diligence on private sector projects financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) regarding disability inclusion and strengthen IFC¡¯s signaling on the importance of engaging the private sector for disability inclusion.
8. Ensuring that 75% of World Bank-financed social protection projects are disability-inclusive by 2025.?
9. Foster a more Inclusive Environment in the World Bank Group (by implementing the disability inclusion strategy
10. Promoting the updated??among World Bank staff as a way to support the World Bank¡¯s?Environmental and Social Framework?(ESF).?

ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº¡¯s?ESF includes a strong provision designed to make sure that the interests of persons with disabilities are protected and included in project design, requiring the borrower to look specifically at disability as part of any social assessments.

The ESF makes several direct references to safeguarding the interests of persons with disabilities and protecting them from unsafe working conditions. It encourages countries to undertake reasonable accommodation measures to adapt the workplace to include workers with disabilities, as well as to provide information in accessible formats. Furthermore, the ESF also requires client countries to undertake meaningful consultations with stakeholders to learn their views on project risks, impacts, and mitigation measures.?

ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº has issued?, which also addresses the inclusion of persons with disabilities. The is aligned with the ESF and will offer a thematic blueprint to support disability-inclusive investments.

Last Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Global analysis and good practice

Since the 2011 publication of the joint World Bank-World Health Organization?,?the World Bank has committed to building the evidence base on disability-inclusive development. Within the scope prescribed by the?Ten Commitments on Disability-Inclusive Development, the World Bank produces independent empirical studies and analysis on the intersection of disability inclusion and inclusive education, transport, water, and digital development, among other topics. Here are some of our recent analytics:

ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº has developed a series of good practice guidance notes to ensure that disability inclusion is?embedded across the spectrum of Bank operations. The?World Bank Technical Note on Accessibility?describes various accessibility barriers, recommendations, methodologies, and strategies across sectors. While the note is primarily meant for World Bank Task Teams, Project Implementing Units (PIUs) and Environmental & Social (E&S) Specialists, it can be widely used by all interested stakeholders. A toolkit on??aims to increase inclusion of women and girls with disabilities across World Bank Group projects.

Additional technical guidance notes on?,?,?,?, and??provide action-oriented direction for government officials and decision makers in the areas.?

ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº also facilitates learning and knowledge sharing. An e-course,?Collecting Data on Disability Inclusion, provides technical knowledge on disability disaggregated data to support disability-inclusive development. ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº partnered with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and WaterAid to launch , to support water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practitioners and decision makers on relevant concepts, tools, and mechanisms to ensure WASH programs, services, and facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities in development and humanitarian contexts.

Operational Examples

• In Pakistan, the is supporting disability inclusion by prioritizing the inclusion of persons with disabilities in project interventions and mainstreaming disability considerations into project design. The inclusive design is informed by analysis which identified key barriers faced by persons with disabilities in relation to housing infrastructure and ownership. In response, the project incorporated Universal Design into the development of multi-hazard resilient housing minimum standards and technical training. In addition, households with persons with disabilities are prioritized for housing reconstruction and home ownership support.

• In Mauritania, persons with disabilities face multiple challenges to participating in economic activity and finding employment. The aims to address barriers to participation through targeted outreach to youth with disabilities¡ªincreasing their participation in technical and life skills trainings¡ªand micro-entrepreneurship support. These activities are implemented in collaboration with local organizations for persons with disabilities and include awareness-raising for project staff.

• In Haiti, persons with disabilities often lack access to basic services, including to water and disability-accessible toilets. The prioritizes the needs of persons with disabilities by conducting inclusive consultations and ensuring the design and construction of disability-inclusive WASH facilities. 

• In?Rwanda, the??has integrated disability-inclusive design into the country¡¯s national school infrastructure expansion¡ªbuilding an additional 22,500 classrooms and 31,000 toilets. The new infrastructure includes ramps for classroom access, spacious and wheelchair-accessible latrines, accessible blackboards, and other inclusive features across school compounds. The project also supports teacher training and the provision of accessible learning materials to better serve students with disabilities.

• In?Nigeria, the? aims to increase the number of persons with a national identification number, thereby facilitating their access to services and formal employment. The project includes extensive consultations with persons with disabilities to ensure the challenges that persons with disabilities face in applying for and receiving a national identification number are addressed in project design. Insights and recommendations from these stakeholder consultations shaped differentiated measures for disability-inclusion including: using organizations for persons with disabilities as enrollment providers, as well as ensuring comprehensive data capture and processing requirements for any persons who are unable to provide the required biometrics (e.g. iris scans due to visual disabilities, fingerprints due to physical disabilities).

Trust-funded Projects:

The?, a multi-donor trust fund with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), invested in catalytic technical expertise and knowledge resources that support countries in making education progressively inclusive for children across the spectrum of disabilities. The IEI has three focus countries, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Nepal, and supports projects in a number of other countries: ?

• In?Rwanda, the IEI conducted a comprehensive mapping and review of classrooms and assessment centers, along with strengthening of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and the provision of technical assistance and targeted capacity building activities.

•  In?Pakistan, with funding from the IEI, the??conducted a study entitled ¡°Knowledge, Voice, and Action: Scaling up investments in the education of girls with disabilities in Pakistan.¡± This mixed-methods study unpacked and analyzed data on supply- and demand-side barriers to educating children with disabilities in Pakistan, with a focus on girls. The findings from this work are informing policy dialogue around supporting and funding education services for children with disabilities.? 

• The IEI¡¯s included Bangladesh as a case study to gather insights from the experiences of teachers, parents and caregivers, government officials, and civil society in delivering and accessing digital learning solutions for children with a range of disabilities. The report documents current trends and practices in using ICT to improve the educational participation and outcomes of children with disabilities and offers recommendations for an ecosystem-wide response.

The?Disability-Inclusive Education in Africa Program, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), invested in regional diagnostics and programmatic interventions in Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Senegal, The Gambia, and Zambia. The program built practitioner capacity through?technical learning sessions?and knowledge products. 

Last Updated: Aug 13, 2025

Partnerships play a critical role at the strategic level¡ªby developing policy and institutional frameworks¡ªand at the project level, through joint implementation with civil society, organizations for persons with disabilities, and community-based organizations to promote disability inclusion.  

• ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº partners with bilateral donors on disability-inclusive education. Specifically, Norad and FCDO support the . USAID supports the .

• ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº partnered with and USAID to deliver a comprehensive on the essential components of the enabling environment and service delivery that can support efforts to create inclusive education systems for all, including students with disabilities, and help reach the Sustainable Development Goal of equitable quality education for all by 2030. 

• In 2025, the World Bank, in partnership with Microsoft, launched the , a platform that provides disability-disaggregated data across development indicators and sectors, thereby expanding access to and the use of demographics and statistics data on persons with disabilities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The hub also includes knowledge and learning resources on collecting and using development data disaggregated by disability.

• ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº is an active member of the (GLAD), engaging in dialogue and knowledge sharing with bilateral and multilateral donors and agencies, private sector actors, and foundations to accelerate disability-inclusive development. The Bank co-chairs the GLAD Working Group on Disability and Climate Change.     

• ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº serves as an observer to the United Nations¡¯ and provided comment on the (UN-DIS). The Bank also actively participated in the in New York. It also co-hosted the Public Forum event on in Sendai, Japan. 

Last Updated: Aug 13, 2025