More disabled people in Lower Saxony

More disabled people in Lower Saxony: One in twelve people in Lower Saxony is affected by a disability. The most common cause of disability is a previous illness.

(09.09.2010) More and more people in Niedersachsen are affected by a disability. According to a study published on Thursday by the State Institute for Statistics and Communications Technology (LSKN), every twelfth person in Niedersachsen is already affected by severe disability.

More and more people are considered severely disabled in the federal state of Lower Saxony. By the end of 2009, 688,000 people were recognized as severely disabled and thus entitled to a severely handicapped ID card. This is an increase of seven percent compared to the last statistics survey in 2007. Why the proportion of the population with severe disabilities has increased, is still unclear.

More than half of the handicapped are already in retirement age and older than 65 years of age. Only about 2.5 percent of those affected were still minors at the time of the survey. The most common cause of disability was a previous disability illness. Genetic or congenital disabilities are the exception. Even accidents are according to statistics rather rare. In some regions, many people with disabilities live. Most people with a severely handicapped card live in the municipality of Sickte (Wolfenbüttel district) and in the city of Rotenburg.

Affected persons are deemed severely disabled if the degree of disability (GdB) is 50 percent or more. Then people with a disability are entitled to a severely handicapped ID card. Affected persons apply to the relevant Provident Office or State Office. (Sb)

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Picture: Rainer Sturm