Approximately 253 million people worldwide are visually impaired. In addition, around 1.1 billion people have the condition presbyopia (long-sightedness) which is the normal loss of near focusing ability, mostly occurring with age. It is estimated that 89% of visually impaired people live in low- and middle-income countries, and that 55% of visually impaired people are women. Around 75% of all visual impairments are in fact avoidable; the major global causes being uncorrected refractive errors (49%), cataract (25.8%), glaucoma (2.8%), age-related macular degeneration (4.1%), corneal opacity (1.7%), trachoma (0.8%) and diabetic retinopathy (1.2%). There are an estimated 1.4 million children who are blind in the world, with 75% living in Africa and Asia.
Author: Light for the World
Year of Publication: 2019
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