The Cost of Disability in a Low Income Country

Abstract

We estimate the financial impact of disability on households in Cambodia. Using the Standard of Living approach, we find that having disabled members increases the income required for a household to achieve the same standard of living as an otherwise similar household by 17%. We show that accounting for the additional costs of disability increases poverty at both the extensive and intensive margin; the poverty rate amongst households with disabled members increases from 18% to 34%, and poor households with disabled members fall 7% below the poverty line on average, compared to 3% when the cost of disability is ignored. Finally, we compare transfer payments received from family members, and government and non-government agencies to the cost of disability. We find that the median level of payments across all sources falls well short of the disability costs faced by households.

Keywords: disability, low income country, standard of living approach

JEL Classification: O12, I15, I32