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Nearly 108 million children with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific live in a world not designed for them - UNICEF
The region is home to almost half of all children with disabilities, many of whom remain excluded from education, health care, and protection.
BANGKOK/KATHMANDU, 4 June 2025 – A new regional UNICEF report reveals stark disparities in access to rights and services for nearly 108 million children with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific - almost half of the global total of 240 million children with disabilities. Many of these children are being left behind from the earliest years of life. The data highlights the urgent need to design inclusive services to include children with disabilities.
The report, Children with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific: A Statistical Overview of Their Well-being, presents a comprehensive regional overview of the situation of children with disabilities. The findings are stark. In most countries, children with disabilities are significantly less likely to attend early childhood education programmes and more likely to miss out on schooling at all levels, adequate nutrition, and protection from violence.
“For too many children with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific, basic services such as schooling, healthcare, or protection remain out of reach,” said June Kunugi, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific. “This report offers not only a new regional overview of children with disabilities, but also a clear way forward. When services are inclusive by design and children with disabilities are counted from the start, we create stronger, more resilient systems that benefit every child.”
In most countries with available data, children with disabilities are more likely to experience severe physical punishment than their peers without disabilities. The pattern of exclusion often begins in the earliest years. In Balochistan, Pakistan, and Lao PDR, only around 40 percent of children with disabilities have access to playthings, compared to 60 to 70 percent of children without disabilities. This disparity continues into later years: in Fiji, only one in four children with disabilities can complete simple math tasks, while nearly half of their peers without disabilities are able can.
The gap is also evident in health and nutrition outcomes. In Vanuatu, nearly half of all children with disabilities are likely to be stunted, compared to less than a third of children without disabilities.
“Every child has the right to live a full life and realize their full potential," said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia. "When children with disabilities miss out on nutrition, or early learning, the consequences can last a lifetime. Inclusion must begin in the earliest years through care, connection, and services that reach every child, everywhere.”
The report draws on data from 14 countries that used the Child Functioning Module - a tool that focuses on children’s functional difficulties in daily life, rather than relying solely on medical diagnoses. This approach helps overcome stigma and underreporting, offering a more accurate picture of the proportion of children with disabilities and helps identify disparities in development outcomes and access to rights for children with disabilities and their peers.
The report also highlights progress. In Indonesia, inclusive toilets and digital safety education for children with hearing impairments are helping to promote the participation and rights of children with disabilities. In Nepal, assistive technologies – such as screen readers and braille displays - alongside inclusive education policies and early intervention programmes have been introduced for students with disabilities. However, such efforts remain limited and uneven across the region.
The report calls for urgent, system-wide action to turn inclusion from rhetoric into reality.
This means governments must ensure:
- Investment in inclusive data: Build data systems that count every child, including those with disabilities. Use this data to design inclusive policies, programmes, and investments that address their unique needs.
- Accessible services for all: Ensure social services are inclusive and reach the most marginalized, especially children with disabilities. These services must be tailored to individual needs and remain functional in both stable and crisis settings.
- Inclusive education: Develop education systems where children with disabilities learn alongside their peers from early childhood onwards. This includes training teachers, adapting materials, removing barriers, and engaging families and communities.
- Protection from violence and neglect: Build inclusive community care and support systems to provide social services and accessible psychosocial and mental health support.
- Support for parents and caregivers: Promote the mental health and well-being of parents and caregivers of children with disabilities, empowering them to support their children to reach their fullest potential.
- An end to stigma: Ending stigma and exclusion is a shared responsibility. Governments, communities, families, faith leaders, and the media must work together to promote inclusion and uphold the rights of children with disabilities as part of human diversity.
“Building inclusive systems is both a matter of rights and a smart investment in more equitable, resilient, and productive societies,” Kunugi added.
Media contacts
Pravaran Mahat
Regional Communication Specialist
UNICEF ROSA
Tel: +977 9802048256
Email: pmahat@unicef.org
Chiara Frisone
Communication Specialist
UNICEF East Asia & Pacific
Tel: +66 6269 25897
Email: cfrisone@unicef.org