How many people in the UK have Asperger's Syndrome?

Answer 1

POPULATION: By mid-2007, the population of the UK was estimated to have grown to 60,975,000.

---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#Population

BEST STUDY: The SNAP Project, using the best scientists and assessment tools available, attempted to accurately count the number of people with different types of Autism across a section of London children. The methodology used and the sample size (56,000) make it easily the best attempt to-date.

---> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16844490?dopt=AbstractPlus

FINDINGS: The prevalence of childhood autism was 38.9 per 10,000 (Kanner's Autism, Classic Autism) and that of other ASD's was 77.2 per 10,000 (HFA, Asperger's, PDD-NOS), making the total prevalence of all ASDs ('the whole spectrum') equal 116.1 per 10,000.

AGGREGATION: HFA and PDD-NOS are now though of broadly as tantamount to Asperger's if not indeed one and the same - the distinction continues to blur further with every significant report from the very leading experts such as Prof Attwood, Simon Baron-Cohen, etc.

THEREFORE: 470,727 would be a fairly reliable estimate of the total population of the UK that has Asperger's Syndrome... in one form or another.

[Hope that helps. I know it is a huge number and even I who have AS have difficulty contemplating such a vast hidden river of suffering - so many people being undiagnosed and not likely to be allowed for and accommodated satisfactorily. Current evidence (some still anecdotal) suggests that up to 50% of school children who are bullied at school daily and at least one third of the UK's real homeless are drawn from that incredible group of differently-wired people... including my own brilliant wonderful brother somewhere in Brompton whom I have often feared for - and not without justification at times.]