About the report
The Center for Inclusive Policy (CIP) contributed to the UN’s 2024 Disability and Development Report, “Accelerating the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities.” The report finds that wide gaps persist between persons with and without disabilities in reaching the SDGs by 2030, particularly on food security, health, and access to energy and ICT.
Nine years after the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were adopted, the data still shows the same pattern: persons with disabilities are being left behind. The Center for Inclusive Policy (CIP) contributed to the UN’s 2024 Disability and Development Report, an update to the 2018 edition. The report was produced in response to a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a fresh look at how the SDGs are playing out for persons with disabilities specifically.
What the Report Covers
The report doesn’t stop at a headline number. It works through nearly every SDG individually. The report examines topics such as poverty, food security, health, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, energy access, decent work, ICT access, inequality, inclusive cities, climate resilience, violence and justice, legal identity, and international development assistance. Throughout, the report tracks where persons with disabilities are keeping pace and where they’re falling behind.
Where Are the Gaps Widest?
Food security, health, and access to energy and ICT stand out as some of the areas with the largest disparities between persons with and without disabilities. The report also examines how COVID-19 affected progress across these goals, since the pandemic disrupted services and support systems that many persons with disabilities already depended on unevenly.
Why This Report Matters for Policy
A report that breaks disability gaps down goal by goal gives governments something particularly useful: it shows exactly where national policy is failing to reach persons with disabilities, and where targeted intervention could close specific gaps rather than waiting for broad development gains to trickle down. That specificity is central to CIP’s own approach, and part of why contributing to this flagship report matters for its wider work.
How This Connects to CIP's Broader Work
CIP’s research consistently returns to the same theme this report documents: disability-disaggregated data reveals gaps that standard development statistics hide. From extra costs and social protection coverage to care systems and disability assessment reform, CIP’s country-level work depends on exactly the kind of evidence this UN report compiles at the global level, making the two strands of work mutually reinforcing.
