A CDC study finds the share of US parents reporting a developmental disability in their child rose from 16.7% in 2019 to 20.5% in 2023-24, with autism showing the sharpest increase.
The share of U.S. parents saying their child has a developmental disability has climbed sharply in recent years, according to new research from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which suggests that diagnoses of autism and related conditions are becoming more common across a wide range of children.
The study, published in Pediatrics and based on the National Health Interview Survey, found that the proportion rose from 16.7% in 2019 to 20.5% in the 2023-24 survey cycle. Parents were asked whether a healthcare professional had ever told them their child had autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability or another developmental delay, and whether a school or health professional had diagnosed a learning disability. The researchers counted a child as having any developmental disability if any of those five conditions had been reported.
The CDC said prevalence increased across all diagnoses among children aged 3 to 17, with the sharpest gains in autism. Autism alone rose by more than 42%, while ADHD increased by 26%. Learning disabilities and other developmental delays each climbed by about 16%, and intellectual disability rose by more than 6%. The agency’s earlier data briefs also show a steady upward trend: any diagnosed developmental disability rose from 5.76% to 6.99% between 2014 and 2016, then to 8.56% in 2021, underscoring that the latest figures continue a longer-running pattern.
Benjamin Zablotsky, a statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics who led the study, said the rise among some groups, particularly younger children, had not appeared in earlier reports. He said the agency believes the new increases may reflect earlier detection and greater awareness. Scott Landes, a sociology professor at Syracuse University who was not involved in the study, told Disability Scoop that the trend should not automatically be viewed as negative, arguing that better screening, greater awareness and reduced stigma are likely helping identify children who may previously have gone unnoticed and without services. CDC data also show that boys are still far more likely than girls to be diagnosed with autism, and that the condition is found in all racial, ethnic and socio-economic groups.
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