The Epidemiology of Disability in Saudi Arabia: National Prevalence, Functional Multimorbidity, and Age-Stratified...

Background/Objectives: Disability reflects interactions between health and contextual factors. Washington Group (WG) measures capture functional difficulty but not disabling barriers. Thus, this study aimed to describe national disability patterns in Saudi Arabia using aggregate WG-aligned indicators. Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional secondary analysis of aggregate data from the Saudi Population and Housing Census 2022 and the 2023 Disability Survey published by the General Authority for Statistics. The 2023 survey covered 29,920 households across 13 administrative regions and individuals aged ≥2 years. Disability was operationalized as severe difficulty or inability in at least one functional domain (WG Grades 2-3). National counts were derived from published proportions and Census 2022 denominators. Results: Combined disability and functional difficulty affected 4.2% of the population, corresponding to approximately 1.35 million people. Applying published Grade 2-3 proportions to Census 2022 denominators yielded an estimated 587,900 people meeting the operational disability threshold. Multiple functional domains were reported among 58.5% of severe-or-unable cases, increasing to 68.2% among children aged 2-4 years. Grade 2-3 prevalence was 1.4% among adults aged 15-64 years and 15.1% among those aged ≥65 years. Illness was the most frequently reported reason among adults aged ≥18 years (44.2%) and overall (39.2%). Ar-Riyadh, Makkah, and the Eastern Region accounted for 44.0% of severe-or-unable single-disability cases. Conclusions: Disability in Saudi Arabia transitions from developmental and multimorbid issues in childhood to illness-related disabilities in adulthood. These findings support disability-inclusive health planning and rehabilitation strategies under Saudi Vision 2030.