One out every seven people in the country is living with a disability, finds a new Statistics Canada survey, an increase of about two per cent from five years previous.
An estimated 4.4 million Canadians reported having a disability in 2006, an increase of more than 750,000 people since 2001.
While the report suggests one factor in the increase was the aging of the population, StatsCan says this played only a partial role, and that increased social acceptance of reporting disabilities may also be a factor.
For adults, the most significant jump was seen in the area of learning disabilities.
The number of Canadians aged 15 and over living with a learning disability increased by almost 40 per cent to an estimated 631,000 people. It's thought the growing awareness of learning disabilities could account for the rise.
Meanwhile for children aged five to 14, the likelihood of having several disabilities was much higher, with nearly three-quarters of school-aged children with a disability reporting having multiple disabilities.
About 67 per cent of children reporting a disability said they had a chronic health condition-related disability. The most common chronic conditions reported were asthma or severe allergies, attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD) and autism.
The report was based on information gathered from the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS), the first in a series of staged releases in the coming months examining Canadians living with disabilities.
The figures account for individuals living in private households or in some form of collective dwelling, such as nursing homes or assisted living facilities.
The survey release coincides with the International Day of Disabled Persons.
The theme this year is focusing on how to ensure decent work for persons with disabilities.
