Life in the UK Focus on Disability

Carnegie UK publishes an annual wellbeing index called Life in the UK. ​

This measures social, economic, environmental and democratic wellbeing across the UK, giving governments insight to understand whether we are collectively living better or worse. The 2023 Life in the UK Index, conducted in partnership with Ipsos, was based on a survey of more than 6,900 people.

This 2023 insights paper presents further detail on the inequalities we identified in collective, social, economic, environmental and democratic wellbeing by disability in the UK. It reveals that non-disabled people are doing better than disabled people across all areas.

For example, in comparison to non-disabled people, disabled people are:

• Six times more likely to report poor mental health.
• At least twice as likely to report that they are unable to afford to keep their homes adequately warm, enough food for everyone in the household, an annual holiday and to socialise outside the house.
• Significantly more likely to report: lower levels of trust in UK and local government, legal systems and courts, the police, news media and banks.