Disability rates varied among the major racial and ethnic groups.

Census 2000 allowed respondents to choose more than one race. With the exception of the Two or more races group, all race groups discussed in this report refer to people who indicated only one racial identity among the six major categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and Some other race. The use of the single-race population in this report does not imply that it is the preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. The Census Bureau uses a variety of approaches. Interestingly, people who indicated that they were White (and no other race) and were not of Hispanic or Latino origin had a low overall disability rate despite the fact that their median age was higher than for other racial and ethnic groups.

 

In Census 2000, they reported a disability rate of 18.3 percent, compared with 19.3 percent for all noninstitutionalized civilians aged 5 and older, as shown in Table 2.7 Among the racial and ethnic groups examined in this report, the highest overall estimated disability rate, 24.3 percent, was shared by two groups — people who reported Black and people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native. The disability rates for these two groups were higher than the rates for non-Hispanic Whites in each of the broad age groups investigated in this report. Among children 5 to 15 years old, the disability rate was 5.7 percent for non-Hispanic Whites, but 7.0 percent for Black children and 7.7 percent for American Indian and Alaska Native children. Although the disability rate was 16.2 percent for non- Hispanic Whites of working age (16 to 64), it was 26.4 percent for Blacks and 27.0 percent for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Among people 65 and older, the rates were 40.4, 52.8, and 57.6 percent, respectively. Asians who reported only one race had the lowest overall disability rate of any of the racial and ethnic groups examined in this report: 16.6 percent. Their child disability rate, 2.9 percent, was also the lowest.

 

The disability rate for working-age Asians (16.9 percent) was slightly higher than the rate for working-age non-Hispanic Whites, whereas the rates for those 65 and older were not significantly different. The overall disability rate for singlerace Pacific Islanders (19.0 percent) and their child disability rate (5.1 percent) were both slightly higher than the corresponding rates for Asians, but not statistically different from the rates for non- Hispanic Whites.

 

However, the rates for Pacific Islander working-age adults (21.0 percent) and older adults (48.5 percent) were higher than the rates for Asians and non- Hispanic Whites in these same age groups. Even though people reporting two or more races had the lowest median age among the racial or ethnic groups examined in this report, their disability rates were among the highest in 2000 — 21.7 percent overall. Among those reporting two or more races, 7.1 percent of children, 25.1 percent of working-age adults, and 51.8 percent of older adults reported at least one disability. The overall disability rate was higher for Hispanics (20.9 percent) than for non-Hispanic Whites (18.3 percent). However, their child disability rate was lower — (5.4 percent compared with 5.7 percent). Still, the disability rates for Hispanics of working-age (24.0 percent) and older (48.5 percent) exceeded the rates for non- Hispanic Whites.

U.S. Census Bureau