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Frequently Asked Questions:

Deaf Statistics:
Other Countries

Some of the articles and sub-articles for different countries in the Gallaudet Encyclopedia of Deaf People and Deafness (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987) include figures or rates for the number of deaf people in each of the countries represented. Nearly all of these numbers are merely estimates, not actual counts, and usually there is no indication of how "deaf" was defined for the purpose of each estimate. Often, there are two or more estimates that conflict with each other. The basis for a deaf population estimate in one country may be very different from the basis for an estimate in another country, making it difficult or impossible to properly compare the rate of deafness in one country with another. These figures are, of course, not any more recent than the period in which the Gallaudet encyclopedia was compiled, the middle 1980s.

Figures from other sources are also included here where known. For some countries, the only available figures are quite old - 50 years or more old is common.

Many countries are not included here because the information is simply not available. For those countries, a very crude approximation of their deaf populations can be made by applying the worldwide average prevalence rate of about 0.1% to the total national population. Multiply the total national population by .001. Thus, for example, Chile, with a total population of 14,333,258 (according to the World almanac), will have roughly 14,300 deaf people; Iran, with 66,094,264 people, will have approximately 66,000 deaf. Keep in mind, though, that this is a very crude figure and may vary greatly from reality, depending not only on the factors already mentioned above but on additional factors. For example, the numbers tend to be higher in developing countries due to their generally lower levels of health care.

Australia

Number:

• "…approximately 750,000 (5% of total population) reported having a hearing problem great enough to occasionally cause them some degree of difficulty, particularly in noisy conditions." (1986)
• The great majority, 575,000, are elderly and acquired hearing impairment after leaving school. (1986)
• "…168,000 have difficulty understanding speech, even with a hearing aid." (1986)
• "About 40,000 were born hearing-impaired or acquired a hearing loss early enough in childhood that they required special education services." (1986)
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.126.)

• "…some seven per cent of the total population report some form of hearing disability (Project Knock Knock, 1989)."
  -- (Brelje, p.7.)

Prevalence: 35 per 100,000 (1933).

Sign language users: 9000-9500 (1985).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.56.)

Belgium

Number: about 610,000 deaf students (2004).

-- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.33.)

Prevalence: Prelingually deaf: 60 per 100,000 (1950); 51 per 100,000 (1974).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Brazil

Number:

• 300,000 to 600,000, based on presumed prevalence rate (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.153.)

• "…estimates suggest that there are up to 9.6 million deaf and hard-of-hearing Brazilians" (2004). (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.38.)
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.38.)

Prevalence: "Thought to be" 0.5% to 1.0% of the population under age 20 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.153.)

Canada

Number:

• About 2,000,000 (1 in 10) have some form of hearing impairment (1986).
• "About 40,000 adults have hearing losses of such a nature as to preclude the processing of information auditorially." (1986)
• "Nearly 4000 children and youths are in special programs for hearing-impaired individuals. Of this number, almost half have profound losses." (1986)
• These numbers do not include the Native American/Inuit population of the far north, where deafness is reportedly "endemic." (1986)
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.164.)

• "About 1 in 25 Canadian citizens have some type of hearing problem…About 200,000 Canadians are deaf" (2004). (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.41.)
• "It has been estimated that there are over 200,000 profoundly deaf people in Canada, and an additional 1,500,000 with milder hearing impairments (Rodda & Hiron, 1989)."
  -- (Brelje, p.33.)

Prevalence: Prelingually deaf: 63 per 100,000 (1941).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

China (People's Republic)

Number:

• "Officially, there are 3 million deaf people in China." (1986)
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.67.)

• "There are about 3 million deaf citizens in China…[o]nly about 33,000 of them currently attend schools for deaf students" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Impairments, p.46.)

Colombia
Providence Island only

Number: At least 19 born-deaf out of a total 2500-3000 population (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.103.)

Denmark

Number: “Approximately 3500 people are deaf.” (1986)

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.67.)

Prevalence: Prelingual, 43 per 100,000 (1943).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Sign language users: 3,000 (1999).

-- (Brelje, p.60.)

Ecuador

Number:

• Approximately 150,000 people estimated to have hearing impairments (1981). This is considered a conservative estimate.
• Estimated 13,000 hearing impaired children aged 4 to 15 years (1980).

Percentage:

• Approximately 2% of the total population had some degree of hearing impairment (1981).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.347.)

Egypt

Number: estimated 2,000,000 hearing impaired children. No figure available for number of adults. (1999)

-- (Brelje, p.72-73.)

Prevalence: 60 per 100,000 (1937).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Finland

Number: approximately 8000 deaf persons (1986).

Sign language users: approximately 5000 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.71.)

France

Number:

• About 3,500,000 hearing impaired persons (1986).
• Approximately 800,000 "who do not hear normal conversational speech (60dB loss or more)" (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol. 1 p.431.)

Prevalence: 47 per 100,000 (1946).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Sign language users: between 50,000 and 100,000 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.75.)

Germany (former West Germany only)

Number: estimated 50,000 prelingually profoundly deaf people (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Prevalence: 43 per 100,000 (1950).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.77.)

Great Britain

Number:

• "Deaf population 909,000 to 3,524,725 (1998)."
  -- (Ethnologue, http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=United+Kingdom)

• "About 62,000 people over age 16 have very severe hearing problems, and about 2.3 million have some degree of hearing difficulties" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.211.)

Prevalence: "profound prelingual deafness…estimated to be between .8 and 1.5 per 1,000 live births" (2004).

-- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.211.)

Sign language users:

• No figure for total number of users; up to 30,000 deaf people in the UK have been educated via BSL (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.62.)

• "Approximately 30,000 people use British Sign Language as their main method of communication" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.211.)

Scotland only

Number:

• About 4000 profoundly deaf people known, total number is certainly higher. (1986)
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.5.)

• "…an estimated 4,000 deaf adults in Scotland, with another 2,000 students receiving help for some form of hearing loss" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.184.)

Greece

Number:

• No figures available for adults. Estimated over 1600 profoundly deaf children aged 5-19, based on official estimated percentage for the U.S. (1986).
• Estimate of a further 11,000 or more hard-of-hearing children, based on official estimated percentage for the U.S. (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.480.)

Sign language users: "…more than 30,000 adult deaf Greeks" (2004).

-- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.93.)

Honduras

Prevalence: 138 per 100,000 (1935)

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Hong Kong

Number: : Unknown. In 1982-1983, 1880 moderately- to severely-hearing impaired children were enrolled in Hong Kong schools or other programs.

Prevalence: Audiometric screening programs in schools suggest the rate of profound deafness (defined as greater than 90 dB) among Hong Kong children is 30.3 per 100,000; the rate of severe deafness (defined as between 56 and 90 dB) appears to be 50.14 per 100,000 (1983).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.73.)

Hungary

Number: "The total number of hearing impaired pupils in schools for the deaf and hard of hearing is 1,426." Of this number, 898 are deaf, the remainder hard of hearing. However, most hard of hearing children attend regular public schools. No number available for adults. (1999)

-- (Brelje, p.176.)

Iceland

Prevalence: 76 per 100,000 (1948).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

India

Number: Not available. "However, if it is assumed that 1.2 people out of 1000 are hearing impaired, then India, with a population of more then 700 million, has more than 800,000 people who are hearing-impaired…"

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.81.)

Prevalence: 66 per 100,000 (1931).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Sign language users: "It is estimated that Indian Sign Language (ISL) is used by over 1,000,000 deaf adults and by approximately 500,000 deaf children…"

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.79.)

Ireland, Northern

Number: : The government's Departments of Education and of Health and Social Services have published figures showing more than 1100 deaf persons and more than 2500 hard-of-hearing persons; the latter number is "probably understated".

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.98.)

Prevalence: 45 per 100,000 (1956).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia vol.1 p.252)

Ireland, Republic of

Prevalence: in the school-going population, "hearing loss sufficiently great to warrant the use of a hearing aid", 90 per 100,000 (1980).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.100)

City of Dublin only

Number: 800 deaf persons (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.82.)

Israel

Number:

• "…an estimated 4500 people with a hearing loss of 75 dB or more" (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.84.)

• "…4,200 pupils [i.e., children] found in educational programs for the deaf" (1999)
  -- (Brelje, p.199)

Prevalence: about 120 per 100,000 (1986). Among minorities (Arabs, Druze, Bedouin, and others), the rate appears to be higher than among the Jewish population, probably due to the high rate of consanguineous marriages in those minority groups. Sephardim Jews also show a deafness incidence rate about double that of Ashkenazim Jews.

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.102.)

Italy

Number:

• "…at least 70,000 profoundly deaf people, including 9,000 of school age" (1955, 1980).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.105.)

• "In general, hearing loss occurs in about 8-10 percent of the general population, or about 3.5 million Italians" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.113.)

Prevalence: Nationwide, 14 per 100,000; northern region, 9 per 100,000; central region, 15 per 100,000; southern region, 20 per 100,000 (1980).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.105.)

Japan

Number:

• "about 300,000 adult Japanese with severe hearing impairment, defined as persons with hearing thresholds above 60 decibels in both ears or above 40 decibels in one ear and 80 decibels in the other" (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.110.)

• "In 1980 the hearing-impaired population numbered 317,000."
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.89.)

• "Between 320,000 and 7.5 million Japanese have hearing problems" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.115.)

Prevalence: 118 per 100,000 (1948, ages 3-39 only); 225 per 100,000 (1970, all ages).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Sign language users: "More than 95 percent of the 320,000 deaf Japanese are assumed to be able to understand Japanese Sign Language…" (2004)

-- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.115.)

Lebanon

Number: estimated 9,313 deaf persons, or 0.27 % of total population (1981).

-- (Brelje, p.224.)

Malaysia

Number: "About 31,000 deaf persons recorded in 1980."

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.93.)

Mexico

Number: estimated 1,300,000 deaf people (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.94.)

Prevalence: 39 per 100,000 (1949); 46 per 100,000 (1970).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Nepal

Number: 38,795 deaf persons (date unknown).

-- (Brelje, p.244.)

Netherlands

Number:

• "have no functional hearing at all," about 28,000; "hearing-impaired to the extent that understanding speech in a quiet environment is difficult," about 400,000 or 3.4% of the total national population (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.237; vol.3 p.70.)

• "About 3.4 percent of this population of 14.4 million is hard-of-hearing, and about 28,000 to 931,761 of these are deaf…" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.150.)

New Zealand

Number: 7,700 deaf and hard-of-hearing people (2004).

-- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.151.)

Prevalence: approximately 300 per 100,000, varying with age (1984).

-- (New Zealand Board of Health, Hearing Report, p.29-30.)

Nicaragua

Number: about 4000 deaf persons (1998).

-- (Judy Shepard-Kegl, quoted in http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Brown_Alumni_Magazine/98/3-98/features/portrait.html.)

Nigeria

Number:

• "…more than 70,000 are believed to be deaf. Nearly 7000 deaf persons are of school age, although less than half are actually in school."
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.242.)

• "About 7,000 of these [70,000] are believed to be between six and 18 years of age" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.151.)

Norway

Number: Over 4000 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.95.)

Prevalence: 53 per 100,000 (1930).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Sign language users: about 4000 (2004).

-- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.155.)

Peru

Prevalence: 300 per 100,000 (1940).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Philippines

Number:

• "…about 300,000 hearing impaired individuals" (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.2 p.286.)

• "…an estimated 100,000 deaf people" (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.96.)

• "About 100,000 to 4.2 million people…have hearing problems" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.170.)

Poland

Number: "…about 700,000 people with hearing impairments, of which about 50,000 are deaf" (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.100.)

Portugal

Number: "…an estimated population of 8000 deaf people in Portugal" (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.102.)

Puerto Rico, see separate document for United States

Saudi Arabia

Number: No figures available for adults. 2526 deaf and hard of hearing children were registered in educational programs for the deaf (1999).

-- (Brelje p.332.)

South Africa

Number:

• "…more than 10,000 children suffered an auditory disability, while approximately 3000 attended schools for deaf children" (1978).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.185.)

• 383,408 "hearing disabled" (2003).
  -- (Statistics South Africa.)

• At least 4 million South Africans in 1995 were deaf or hard of hearing (1998).
  -- (South Africa Yearbook, 1998.)

Prevalence: 49 per 100,000 (1936; white or "European" population only)

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Spain

Number:

• deaf population of 120,000 (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.194.)

• 3353 deaf pupils were enrolled in schools and other special education centers for the deaf (1986-1987).
  -- (Brelje p.353.)

Sri Lanka

Number: 12,800 totally deaf persons (1981).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.238.)

Sweden

Number:

• about 8000 deaf persons and about 200,000 hard of hearing (1986).
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.245.)

• "There are an estimated 530,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Sweden" (2004).
  -- (Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, p.197.)

Prevalence: 87 per 100,000 (1930).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Sign language users: approximately 8000 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.109.)

Switzerland

Number:

• Unofficially estimated at about 7200 deaf persons; does not include hard-of-hearing but may include persons deafened by old age (1986).
  • Ethnic breakdown: Approximately 6000 of these in the German-speaking regions; about 1000 in the French-speaking regions; and about 200 in the Italian-speaking region.
  -- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.111.)

Prevalence: 94 per 100,000 (1954).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.1 p.252.)

Taiwan

Sign language users: approximately 30,000 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.113.)

Thailand

Number: No good estimates available. Using the common formula of 1 in 1000, about 54,000 Thai people would be prelingually deaf. (1999).

-- (Brelje, p.376.)

Yugoslavia (Former; includes Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia)

Number: about 60,000 deaf persons (1986).

Sign language users: approximately 30,000 (1986).

-- (Gallaudet Encyclopedia, vol.3 p.116.)

SOURCES:

Brelje, H. William. Global Perspectives on the Education of the Deaf in Selected Countries. Hillsboro, OR: Butte Publications, 1999.

Gallaudet Encyclopedia of Deaf People and Deafness. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986.

Turkington, Carol, and Sussman, Allen E. Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders, second edition, updated. New York: Facts on File, 2004.

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