Disability benefit growth and disability reform in the US: lessons from other OECD nations

Table 1 Average annual growth in disability recipiency by decade and Country ^1,2

	Australia	Great Britain	Netherlands	Sweden	United States
1970-1979	4.09	1.89	11.45	5.49	5.65
1980-1989	1.73	1.27	1.79	1.59	-0.91
1990-1999	5.37	5.99	-0.34	1.44	4.10
2000-Final	1.18	-0.18	-1.25	1.00	3.71
1970-Final	2.98	2.08	2.69	2.30	3.10

Source: Social Security Administration, US Census Bureau, Australian Government Department of Social Services, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Work and Pensions, Office for National Statistics, Statistics Sweden and Swedish Social Insurance Agency yearbooks, Statistics Netherlands, and the Institute of Employee Benefit Schemes. 1.) See Additional file 1 for a summary of data years utilized across countries. 2.) Average is computed as the average year over year percent change in the recipiency rate within the given time period. For missing data a standard linear interpolation is used.