Finscope 2020 Persons with Disabilities Thematic Report

This report aims to present insights into the financial inclusion of persons with disabilities in Rwanda based on data from the FinScope Rwanda Consumer Survey 2020. A total of 1 190 208 persons with disabilities (PWDs) have been identified based on respondents’ own report, and they equate to about 17% of the total adult population. There are however around 19% (1.3 million) persons with disabilities if we use information from the households’ responses. Approximately 2 793 639 disabilities have been identified and grouped into nine categories: disabilities related to sight (visual impairment), hearing, communication, mobility (movement activity and moving around), daily life activity, intellectual, learning, mental and other. Mobility-related disabilities (i.e., difficulty in movement activity and moving around) are experienced by 35% of persons with disabilities followed by disabilities related to conducting daily life activities, communication, and visual impairment, each reported by more than 10% of persons with disabilities.

While half of persons with disabilities experience only one type of a disability, almost a quarter of persons with disabilities experience four disabilities. The three most common types of disabilities are disabilities related to communication, mobility, and daily life activities. About 81% of persons with disabilities either have no formal education or only primary education compared to only 69% for the rest of the population. There is a further gap in secondary and tertiary education as well, which might be driven by the inadequacy of special needs education schemes tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities.