Disability and Functioning
Data are for the U.S.
Selected sensory problems
- Percent of adults aged 18 and over with difficulty hearing: 14.6%
- Percent of adults aged 18 and over with difficulty seeing: 16.4%
Source: Interactive Summary Health Statistics for Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2019
Difficulties in physical functioning
- Percent of adults aged 18 and over with difficulty walking or climbing steps: 18.6%
Source: Interactive Summary Health Statistics for Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2019
Level of reported difficulty in six domains of functioning (seeing, hearing, mobility, communication, cognition, self-care)
- Number of adults aged 18 and over reporting a lot of difficulty or cannot do at all in at least one domain of functioning: 24.8 million (2018)
- Percent of adults aged 18 and over reporting a lot of difficulty or cannot do at all in at least one domain of functioning: 10.2% (2018)
- Number of adults aged 65 and over reporting a lot of difficulty or cannot do at all in at least one domain of functioning: 11.0 million (2018)
- Percent of adults aged 65 and over reporting a lot of difficulty or cannot do at all in at least one domain of functioning: 21.9% (2018)
Source: Health, United States, 2019, table 15 pdf icon[PDF – 9.8 MB]
Related FastStats
More data
- Trends in Functional Limitation from Health, United States
- Eye Disorders and Vision Loss Among U.S. Adults Aged 45 and Over With Diagnosed Diabetes, 2016–2017
- Hearing Difficulties Among Adults: United States, 2019
Related Links
- National Health Interview Survey
- National Health Interview Survey on Disability
- Disability and Health Data System
- National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
- National Institutes of Healthexternal icon
- National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)external icon
- Washington Group on Disability Statisticsexternal icon
Page last reviewed: October 20, 2021
Content source: CDC/National Center for Health Statistics