Disability counts for 10% of the UK population.
Posted by Real Time with Bill Maher, Checked
- Sources
- 3 contradict1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
Real Time with Bill MaherOct 24, 2026
The claim's 10% figure contradicts the official prevalence estimates in the sources, which put disability at about 25% of the UK population (16.8 million people in 2023/24, per DWP Family Resources Survey data).
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Yes, did you know that in the UK, one out of every seven new cars, until recently, including luxury brands like BMW, is paid for by the government to give to someone with a disability, and disability now counts for 10% of the population because it includes mental health conditions, which we used to call life, but now, now you can get government money if you have A d h d, anxiety, depression, wheat intolerance, tennis elbow, acne. Really? Those are real. Oh, and dyslexic, too. They're the ones driving BWUM. …
Real Time with Bill Maher · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The UK Parliament Commons Library reports that an estimated 16.8 million people in the UK had a disability in 2023/24, which it describes as 25% of the total population, based on DWP Family Resources Survey data.[1]
Contradicts. Activity Alliance, citing the DWP Family Resources Survey 2024-25, states there are 16.7 million disabled people in the UK, nearly one in four (25%) of the total population.[2]
Contradicts. The earlier Commons Library briefing reports 16.1 million disabled people (24% of the population) in 2022/23, with the proportion rising from 18% to 24% over the period shown, so the 25% figure is consistent with a rising trend rather than a 10% share.[3]
Context. A figure of 10.4% appears in the sources, but it refers to 6.9 million people claiming an extra-costs disability benefit in Great Britain as of February 2024, which is a benefit-claimant count and not the share of the population counted as disabled.[3]
Context. The ONS feasibility research estimates 18.0% of England and Wales individuals as 'likely disabled' using a rules-based method, compared with 17.7% from Census 2021, which is also far above 10%.[4]
Sources
4 sources: 4 not rated
- 1UK disability statistics: Prevalence and life experiencescommonslibrary.parliament.uk · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 2Facts & Statistics | Activity Alliance | Disability Sportactivityalliance.org.uk · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 3commonslibrary.parliament.ukresearchbriefings.files.parliament.uk · not rated · cited for: contradicts, context
- 4A rules-based approach to estimate disability prevalence ...ons.gov.uk · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post