The exclusion of persons with disabilities from jobs resulted in an estimated loss of 3 to 7 percent of gross domestic product, said a UN pilot study Tuesday.

"It has become even more imperative to pursue development strategies that include social, economic and environmental policies to empower excluded social groups," said the study led by the International Labor Organization in 10 low- and middle-income developing countries.

"These include persons with disabilities, who are disproportionately located at the margins of the formal labor market and are denied equality of opportunity when it comes to essential public goods and services, such as education, health and accessible and user-friendly public infrastructure," said the report released before a convention on the rights of disabled people.

Around 10 percent of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. About 80 percent of them are of working age and face physical, social, economic and cultural challenge to their access to education, skills development and employment, according to the UN.

State parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on Dec. 13, 2006, will meet at the UN headquarters in New York from Wednesday to Friday to focus on improving living standards and employment for persons with disabilities. Endi

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