Argentina's state disability agency apologised on Thursday following a furore over the use of the terms "idiot", "imbecile" and "mentally retarded" to describe people with disabilities.

The uproar was caused by a text published as part of libertarian President Javier Milei's clampdown on disability fraud.

The government, which is reviewing disability payments received by around a million Argentines, last month issued a decree setting out the parameters of mental and physical disabilities.

An annex to the decree classified people with mental disabilities according to their IQ as follows: "0-30 (idiot)," "30-50 (imbecile)," "50-60 (severely mentally retarded," "60-70 (moderately mentally retarded)," and "70-90 (slightly mentally retarded)".

Each category also included a description of which functions the person can perform.

Disability support groups and human rights groups protested the terminology and demanded that the National Disabilities Agency scrap the classification.

The groups accused the agency of using "very violent terminology" which "reinforces stereotypes and historical discrimination".

On Thursday, the agency admitted an "error" in using "obsolete terminology" and that it would modify the text to use universally accepted terms to describe levels of disability. (AFP)