5.5mAustralians with disability in 2022: 21% of the population
97%live in the community, in households; 3.3% in cared accommodation
$480the weekly gap in median gross personal income, ages 15 to 64

The employment gap, measured three ways

For people aged 15 to 64 in 2022, the report’s employment figures line up like this: 56 per cent of people with disability were employed, against 82 per cent of people without; 61 per cent were in the labour force, against 85 per cent; and the unemployment rate ran at 7.5 per cent, more than twice the 3.1 per cent for people without disability.

Employment measures for people aged 15 to 64 with and without disability, 2022, per cent 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Employed Employed, people with disability: 56 per cent56% Employed, people without disability: 82 per cent82% In the labour force In the labour force, people with disability: 61 per cent61% In the labour force, people without disability: 85 per cent85% Unemployment rate Unemployment rate, people with disability: 7.5 per cent7.5% Unemployment rate, people without disability: 3.1 per cent3.1%
Employment measures, people aged 15 to 64, 2022, per cent. Source: AIHW, People with disability in Australia 2026, drawing on the ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2022.

The gap is not a labour-supply story alone. The same report finds 24 per cent of people with disability aged 15 and over reported experiencing discrimination in the past year (2025 data), against 16 per cent of people without disability, and disability discrimination accounts for 47 per cent of complaints to the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2024-25, the largest single ground.

The income gap that follows

Median gross personal income for working-age people with disability was $575 a week in 2022, against $1,055 for people without: a $480 gap. The composition explains much of it: 49 per cent of people with disability draw their main income from wages or salary (against 76 per cent without), while 28 per cent rely mainly on government payments (against 5.0 per cent). Housing sits downstream of income: among renters, 20 per cent of people with disability live in social housing, against 4.2 per cent of renters without disability.

Where the NDIS sits inside the 5.5 million

The report records that in December 2025 the NDIS had more than 761,000 active participants, of whom 42 per cent were aged under 15. Set against 5.5 million Australians with disability, that is roughly one in seven, which is the single most important framing number in the sector: the NDIS is the intensive-support tier, not the whole of disability policy. It is exactly the gap the Foundational Supports program is designed to address, and why the AIHW’s wider population figures, 946,000 children and young people aged 0 to 24 with disability among them, matter to the reform debate as much as NDIA participant counts do.

A note on reconciling participant numbers: the NDIA’s own quarterly report counts 774,456 participants with approved plans at 31 March 2026. The two figures differ because they measure at different dates with different definitions (active participants in December 2025, versus approved plans in March 2026), not because either is wrong. We use each in its own context and cite both.

Two health figures complete the picture and belong in any honest account of the sector’s stakes: 32 per cent of adults with disability rate their own health as excellent or very good, against 69 per cent of adults without; and 27 per cent report high or very high psychological distress, against 6.7 per cent. These are aggregate national statistics, which is the only form in which people appear in this masthead’s reporting.

Methodology

Figures are drawn from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s People with disability in Australia 2026 report (aihw.gov.au, page last updated 30 June 2026), the AIHW’s flagship roughly-biennial compilation, re-read on 19 July 2026. Most demographic, employment and income figures reference the ABS 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC), the most recent edition; they describe 2022 and should not be read as current-year measurements. The discrimination figure is 2025 survey data as reported by the AIHW. The NDIS participation figure (more than 761,000 active participants, December 2025) is NDIA administrative data reported via the same AIHW page and describes a different, narrower population at a different date than the SDAC figures; the 774,456 figure is the NDIA’s Quarterly Report count of participants with approved plans at 31 March 2026. No figure here is estimated or interpolated by us.

Primary sources

  1. AIHW, People with disability in Australia 2026, summary (last updated 30 June 2026)
  2. NDIA, Quarterly Report to Disability Ministers, Q3 2025-26 (participants with approved plans at 31 March 2026)