Hanan Ali AL-khalaf
Assistant Professor of Human Geography, Department of So-cial Sciences, College of Arts, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia
Volume: 18 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 65-79| March2026 | https://doi.org/10.54940/ss69256789 | PDF
Received: 13/12/2025 | Revised: 09/01/2026 | Accepted: 29/01/2026
Corresponding Author: hsshareef@uqu.edu.sa
Abstract
This study aimed to identify the number of people with disabilities in the Hail region and their geographical distribution, as well as to examine their demographic, social, and economic characteristics. It also aimed to highlight the governmental support provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to people with disabilities and their needs for support in the Hail region.The study employed a social survey methodology. Data were analyzed using several statisti-cal methods, including the arithmetic mean, correlation coefficient, chi-square test, and anal-ysis of variance (ANOVA), in addition to graphs and maps. Data were collected from a pur-posive sample of 400 individuals with disabilities, representing 2% of the total number of people with disabilities in the Hail region (44,784), distributed across the region's gover-norates.The results revealed that the city of Hail had the highest percentage of people with disabili-ties, at 26% of the total population in the Hail region, followed by Al-Hait Governorate at 17%. Males constituted 60% of the population with disabilities, while females constituted 40%. The study revealed that 52% of people with disabilities rely on the monthly government support provided by the Saudi Arabian government as their primary source of income. It also found that 54% of people with disabilities require intensive healthcare support from both the public and private sectors, particularly those residing outside the city of Hail.The study offered several recommendations, including strengthening the efforts of the Gen-eral Authority for Statistics to provide detailed data on the numbers and rates of people with disabilities in the governorates and villages within the Kingdom's administrative regions. The study also recommended increasing attention to people with disabilities in the governorates of the Hail region by providing healthcare centers and charitable organizations specializing in disability services.
Keywords
People with disabilities, Population geography, Hail region, Government support, Geograph-ical distribution.
How to Cite
AL-khalaf, H. (2026). People with disabilities in the Hail region: A study in Population Geography. Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Social Sciences, 18(1), 65-79. https://doi.org/10.54940/ss69256789
License
Copyright (c) 2026. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC)