WHO revises estimate of global vision loss

The statistics estimated that a total of 285 million people worldwide were visually impaired of which 39 million were blind and 246 million had moderate to severe visual impairment. These were significantly lower that the 314 million people worldwide that WHO estimated were visually impaired in May 2009, of which 45 million were blind.

According to the International Agency for the Prevention for Blindness (IAPB), the reduction reflected the investment of governments and their international development partners. A breakdown of the total figure revealed that 63 per cent of those with low vision and 82 per cent of blind people were over 50 years of age. The IAPB stated that the overall reduction in visual impairment was 'all the more remarkable given that the number of people over 50 years old continues to grow rapidly, increasing by [an estimated] 14 per cent in the past five years'.