Prevalence

• It is estimated that between 1 in 80 and 1 in 240 with an average of 1 in 110 children
  in the United States have an ASD

• ASDs are reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, yet are on
  average 4 to 5 times more likely to occur in boys than in girls.
 
• If 4 million children are born in the United States every year, approximately 36,500
  children will eventually be diagnosed with an ASD.  Assuming the prevalence rate has
  been constant over the past two decades, we can estimate that about 730,000 individuals
  between the ages of 0 to 21 have an ASD.

• Studies in Asia, Europe and North America have identified individuals with an ASD with
  an approximate prevalence of 0.6% to over 1%.  [Data table]  
  (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/documents/Autism_PrevalenceSummaryTable_updated_06-2007.pdf)

• Approximately 13% of children have a developmental disability, ranging from mild
  disabilities such as speech and language impairments to serious developmental disabilities,
  such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and autism.  [Read summary]

 Economic Costs

• Recent studies have estimated that the lifetime cost to care for an individual
  with an ASD is $3.2 million. [Read summary]

• Individuals with an ASD had average medical expenditures that exceeded those
  without an ASD by $4,110–$6,200 per year. On average, medical expenditures for
  individuals with an ASD were 4.1–6.2 times greater than for those without an
  ASD. Differences in median expenditures ranged from $2,240 to $3,360 per year
  with median expenditures 8.4–9.5 times greater. [Read summary]