It is easy to quote statistics, but it is also easy to quote them badly. One must always be careful to interpret indicators and statistics correctly, as well as to choose the most appropriate ones. If not, you will not get the most appropriate, or even true, picture of reality.
In this monthly column, we highlight a statistic or indicator, briefly discussing its strengths and limitations, and how it should be interpreted.
Is Looking at Total Budget Allocations Enough?
Governments and policymakers usually announce how much money they spend to improve people’s lives, including spending on disability. But disability budget analysis requires looking beyond the total figure. It doesn’t tell you whether that money reaches the areas people actually need, whether it reinforces exclusion instead of fighting it, or whether it’s even being spent at all. The real question isn’t how much: it’s how much of what, and toward what.
This is why looking only at total expenditures or allocation can be misleading. Just because there is spending towards people with disabilities doesn’t necessarily mean this spending is advancing their full and effective inclusion. A comprehensive budget analysis, one that looks at how budgets are allocated and spent, not just how much is spent in total, is key.
Take India as an example
For the financial year 2023–24 the overall budget allocation specifically for persons with disabilities, across both Union (the term Union Government refers to the Federal Government as per the Constitution of India) and State budgets, amounted to 1.63 billion USD. This is not an insignificant amount of money, but considering only this total sum can be deceiving for multiple reasons.
Why Disability Budget Analysis Must Go Beyond Total Allocations
Looking at total allocations ignores whether all necessary policy areas and programs for inclusion are receiving funding. In India’s case, 75% of the overall allocation to disability is directed toward cash transfers, which can be important to address poverty and extra costs among people with disabilities. However, there are other policy areas and programs that also require significant funding, such as inclusive education, employment, or public assistive devices programs.
That leaves the remaining 25%, around 40.8 million USD, for everything else. Spread across India’s population of persons with disabilities, that’s roughly 1.52 USD per person per year. The graph below shows just how little each of these other components receives.
Sometimes Allocations Can Undermine Full and Effective Inclusion and Participation
Just because money is allocated to disability doesn’t mean it’s really supporting inclusion, sometimes it does the opposite. In India, nearly 7.31% of total spending (approximately 12.2 million USD) is allocated to institutions and segregated special schools. In other words, this portion of the total isn’t just failing to advance inclusion, it’s actively reinforcing segregation, undermining the rights the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is meant to protect.
Trends in Allocation Over Time Inform the Priorities of the Government
A single year’s total also hides the trend behind it. Considering only one year’s allocation ignores whether governments are increasing or decreasing their funding for disability over time ,information that’s essential for understanding real priorities, holding governments accountable to their commitments, and strengthening advocacy.
Table 1: Allocation by Union Ministries across years 2021-22 to 2024-25 (millions of USD.)
Name of the Ministry | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
Department for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities | 122.86 | 127.30 | 128.45 | 128.46 |
Health & Family Welfare | 626.54 | 703.67 | 962.65 | 1058.48 |
Rural development | 311.66 | 304.30 | 304.30 | 304.30 |
Underspending What Is Allocated Reflects Inefficient Implementation
A total allocation also doesn’t tell us whether that money was actually spent. That’s why execution rates (how much of the allocated budget is actually disbursed) matter just as much as the allocation itself. Underspending is its own way of undermining the rights of people with disabilities. For instance, in the 2021 – 2022 fiscal year, a big chunk of the budget allocated for assistive devices in India went unspent: nearly 10 million USD that could have gone toward helping people access the devices they need, but didn’t. Audit reports point to a few likely factors, including low demand from States and, on the ground, complicated procedures and added costs that make the program hard to access.
State- and Local-Level Analysis Matters
Even a fully disaggregated national total misses part of the picture if it stops at the national level. In India, budgets are set separately by each State, as well as by the Union Government. That means it’s important to study both State and Union allocations and spending. In fact, the Union Government contributes only about 18–20% of the total funds for persons with disabilities, with the rest coming from States. Understanding real priorities means looking at both levels together.
What Does the Total Actually Tell Us?
So, what does the total actually tell us? On its own, not much. A single figure, however large, can’t show whether money reaches the right areas, whether it advances or undermines inclusion, whether it’s growing or shrinking over time, whether it’s even spent, or whether it holds up at the state level. A deeper, disaggregated analysis is what turns a budget number into real evidence, for tracking progress, and for holding governments accountable.
Commitments, Progress and Budget Allocations in India
In India, the main commitments over the years have focused on accessibility, assistive devices, and social protection for marginalized groups.
Table 2 shows how these commitments are prioritised against actual progress and budget allocations.
Table 2: Key commitments vs Fulfilment in India since 2015 (the period we started following budgets):
Commitment | Progress in policy formulation / evolution/ implementation | Budget allocation / Trend |
|---|---|---|
Assistive devices | Lack of new innovations, one scheme for all the requirement at the Union Level. | Across years allocation Amounts to 25% of the overall allocation to the “Department for the empowerment of persons with disabilities”. Increasing trend in allocation, underutilisation of resources across years. |
Accessible environment | Drafted guidelines across ministries. | The allocation to retrofitting existing infrastructure is planned only by the nodal department under the Ministry of Social Justice, declining trend in allocation since 2021 , lack of reform to the procurement policy and guideline to include universal design. |
Social protection | No progress | One-size-fits-all approach, allocation remains constant across the last 3 years, underutilisation of resources is observed across years. |
Skill development | Specific scheme announced 2026. | Modest allocation of 21.12 million USD for a pilot. |
Why Disability Budget Analysis Matters
If done systematically and in depth, budget analysis can highlight the gaps in the realization of rights of persons with disabilities. Analysing budgetary data provides a practical way to test whether governments are truly delivering on disability inclusion commitments under the CRPD. So next time you see how much a government is spending in total on disability, stop and think about whether they’re actually showing the full picture.
Explore more Stat of the Month editions:
Employment vs. Unemployment: What Are We Really Measuring?
Beyond Prevalence: The Wider Reach of Disability
How Education Gaps by Disability Vary Across Age Groups
How Multidimensional Poverty Measures Overlook Accessibility for People with Disabilities
What is the real cost of accessibility?
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Response to India’s Union Budget 2026-27