2021 has seen the official launch of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness’s Vision Atlas – a compilation of the very latest eye health data.
The report reveals that globally there are 43 million people living with blindness and 295 million people living with moderate-to-severe visual impairment. Out of these, a huge 77% is completely preventable or treatable.
This means that 33 million people are living with blindness and a further 260 million with visual impairment that is moderate-to-severe - simply because they lack access to appropriate care.
When you include all forms of vision loss beyond moderate-to-severe, conditions like myopia and other uncorrected problems that most people will experience in their lifetime, the figure becomes 90%. That equates to one billion people on this planet, living with vision loss from avoidable causes.
90% of these people live in low- and middle-income countries, and 55% are women and girls. The majority of these people only need a small intervention, like a pair of reading glasses, to correct their vision.