Disablement: Beneficiaries

Benefits for the disabled are of a great importance in some countries, for example in Poland, where in 1999 more than 12% of working age people received public assistance because of disablement. In Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark the corresponding share of beneficiaries was between 7.7% and 9.2%, and in Germany it was 4.1%. Disablement serves in part as a substitute for unemployment: Disabled people reduce the economically active population and thus also the number of unemployed persons.