The Statistics
Compiled & Written by: Elizabeth
Oath of God Ministries
Dec 2014
According to the CDC, “the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring’ (ADDM) Network is an active surveillance system in the United States that provides estimates of the prevalence of ASD and other characteristics among children aged 8 years whose parents or guardians live in 11 ADDM sites in the United States.”
The following was determined: About 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.(1) ASD is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.(2) ASD is almost 5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).(3) Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with ASD with an average prevalence of about 1%. A study in South Korea reported a prevalence of 2.6%.(4) About 1 in 6 children in the United States had a developmental disability in 2006-2008, ranging from mild disabilities such as speech and language impairments to serious developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and autism. (5)
Additional Facts
– About 1 percent of the world population has autism spectrum disorder. (6)
– More than 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder. (7)
– Prevalence of autism in U.S. children increased by 119.4 percent from 2000 (1 in 150) to 2010 (1 in 68). Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability. (8)
– Prevalence has increased by 6-15 percent each year from 2002 to 2010. (9)
– Autism services cost U.S. citizens $236-262 billion annually. (10)
– A majority of costs in the U.S. are in adult services – $175-196 billion, compared to $61-66 billion for children. (11)
– In 10 years, the annual cost will be $200-400 billion. (12)
– Cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and intervention. (13)
– 1 percent of the adult population of the United Kingdom has autism spectrum disorder. (14)
– The U.S. cost of autism over the lifespan is about $2.4 million for a person with an intellectual disability, or $1.4 million for a person without intellectual disability.(15)
– 35 percent of young adults (ages 19-23) with autism have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school. (16)
– It costs more than $8,600 extra per year to educate a student with autism. (17)
– The average cost of educating a student is about $12,000. (18)
Medical research is still puzzled as to why autism continues to show startling increases in the child population over the past decade. Many researchers have suggested various reasons for this increase but none of which can be confirmed. Let’s review in greater detail the possibilities for this increase.
Why the Increase in Autism
Click on the below links to read more:
- Autism is currently being diagnosed with greater accuracy.
- Many vaccines are developed using cell lines from aborted babies.
- Vaccines contain contaminants.
- Environmental factors surrounding the mother during pregnancy and the child in infancy to adolescence.
Each of the above possible reasons is listed and discussed separately in our section Vaccines and Autism. Please click on the above headings to learn more.
Footnotes:
(1) CDC, Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2010 – March 28, 2014 / 63(SS02);1-21
(2) Socioeconomic inequality in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder: evidence from a U.S. cross-sectional study. 2010 Jul 12;5(7):e11551. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011551
(3) CDC, Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2010
(4) CDC, Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Total Population Sample. PMID:21558103 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] Am J Psychiatry. 2011 Sep;168(9):904-12. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10101532. Epub 2011 May 9, Erratum in Am J Psychiatry. 2013 Jun 1;170(6):689.
(5) Key Findings: Trends in the Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in U. S. Children, 1997–2008, and Pediatrics, Accepted February 25, 2011.
(6) CDC, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Data & Statistics
(7) Bloomberg, Autism Costs More Than $2 Million Over Patient’s Life, Nicole Ostrow Jun 10, 2014 12:01 AM ET
(8) CDC, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Data and Statistics
(9) (Based on biennial numbers from the CDC)
(10) Bloomberg, Autism Costs More Than $2 Million Over Patient’s Life, Nicole Ostrow Jun 10, 2014 12:01 AM ET
(11) Bloomberg, Autism Costs More Than $2 Million Over Patient’s Life, Nicole Ostrow Jun 10, 2014 12:01 AM ET
(12) (Autism Society estimate)
(13) (Autism Society estimate based on Government Accounting Office Report on Autism, 2006)
(14) Clinical research: Autism rates in adults higher than suspected, Simmons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, Jessica Wright, June 1, 2011, Brugha T.S. et al. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 68, 459-465 (2011) PubMed
(15) Bloomberg, Autism Costs More Than $2 Million Over Patient’s Life, Nicole Ostrow Jun 10, 2014 12:01 AM ET
(16) Chicago Tribune, Young adults with autism lag in school, work, May 15, 2012, by Amy Norton | Reuters; and Pediatrics, Postsecondary Education and Employment Among Youth With an Autism Spectrum Disorder by Paul T. Shattuck, accepted February 16, 2012 and online May 14, 2012
(17) Tara A. Lavelle, Pediatrics, Economic Burden of Childhood Autism Spectrum Disorders, accepted December 5, 2013.
(18) National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts,