RNID: For deaf and hard of hearing people.

[skip to content]
 
Information Line (Freephone)
Telephone 0808 808 0123
Textphone 0808 808 9000
informationline@rnid.org.uk

On this page you can find statistics about:

Our members

In 2005 we introduced an annual survey of our members. We send the questionnaire with our magazine, One in Seven, to approximately 25,500 members. The aim of the annual survey is to build up a resource that can be used for a variety of purposes and by different departments. This will provide us with an insight into the experiences and needs of members and of deaf and hard of hearing people more generally.

The information from the survey will enable RNID to target both our campaigns and the provision of services. In addition, we will use the findings to inform our responses to government consultation documents.

Read summaries and download the full reports

Deaf and hard of hearing adults in the UK 

These are the latest estimated figures for the number of deaf and hard of hearing adults in the UK. There are: 

  • 8,945,000 deaf and hard of hearing people
  • 2,474,000 deaf and hard of hearing people aged 16 to 60
  • 6,471,000 deaf and hard of hearing people aged over 60
  • 8,257,000 people with mild to moderate deafness
  • 2,366,000 people with mild to moderate deafness aged 16 to 60
  • 5,891,000 people with mild to moderate deafness aged over 60
  • 688,000 people with severe to profound deafness
  • 108,000 people with severe to profound deafness aged 16 to 60
  • 580,000 people with severe to profound deafness aged over 60.

Age-related hearing loss

These are the percentages of those over the age of 50 and over the age of 70 who have various degress of hearing loss. In the UK:

  • 71.1% of over 70-year-olds will have some kind of hearing loss
  • 26.7% of over 70-year-olds will have mild hearing loss
  • 36.8% of over 70-year-olds will have moderate hearing loss
  • 6.3% of over 70-year-olds will have severe hearing loss
  • 1.3% of over 70-year-olds will have profound hearing loss
  • 41.7% of over 50-year-olds will have some kind of hearing loss
  • 21.6% of over 50-year-olds will have mild hearing loss
  • 16.8% of over 50-year-olds will have moderate hearing loss
  • 2.7% of over 50-year-olds will have severe hearing loss
  • 0.6% of over 50-year-olds will have profound hearing loss.

Babies and children

These are the most important statistics relating to deaf and hard of hearing children in the UK:

  • 840 babies are born each year in UK with significant deafness.
  • One in 1,000 children are deaf at three years old.
  • There are 20,000 children aged 0 to 15 years old who are moderately to profoundly deaf.
  • There are 12,000 children aged 0 to 15 years old who were born deaf.                  

Deafblind people

There are 23,000 deafblind people in the UK.                             

Communication

Here are some statistics about the use of sign language and the number of interpreters in the UK:

  • There are an estimated 50,000 people who use British Sign Language as their first or preferred language. 
  • The ratio of interpreters (including trainees) to sign language users is 1 to 156.
  • The ratio of fully-qualified interpreters to sign language users is 1 to 275.

Hearing aids

How many people use hearing aids? There are:

  • two million people with hearing aids
  • 1.4 million people who use them regularly
  • four million people who it is thought could benefit from a hearing aid.

Hearing dogs

There are 921 hearing dogs that have been trained by Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Tinnitus

In the UK there are:

  • 230,000 adults with tinnitus to a degree that has a severe effect on their ability to lead a normal life
  • 470,000 adults with tinnitus that has a severe effect on their quality of life
  • 2.3 million adults with tinnitus that makes it difficult for them to sleep
  • 2.3 million adults with tinnitus that they find severely-moderately annoying
  • 4.7 million adults who have experienced tinnitus for longer than five minutes (this does not include those who have had tinnitus for a short time after exposure to loud noise).