Statistics on Blindness

• At least one-fourth (60 million) of all Americans require corrective lenses for clear distance vision.
• One-third (80 million) have a medical or surgical disease of the eye and visual system.
• Half of the population age 40 and over could improve their vision with a change in glasses, 8% to a significant degree.
• Almost 1 million Americans are blind and 3 million are visually impaired even with the best correction.
• Thirteen percent of Americans age 85 and older are blind.
• Many individuals are unaware of their visual abnormalities. In a recent population-based study, only half of those with glaucoma and in need of therapy knew they had the disease.
• The rate of visual impairment and blindness is two to three times more common among African Americans than among white Americans and 15 to 30 times more common among those 80 and older than among people between 40 and 50 years of age.

From the American Academy of Ophthalmology.