Our efforts to prevent and treat avoidable blindness are working. The data tells us that in 2015, 217 million people were visually impaired, and 36 million people were blind. A further 1.1 billion people have a condition which can be treated with a simple pair of spectacles.
Making progress on avoidable blindness
On World Sight Day 2017, the latest figures on the global prevalence of visual impairment were published online.
Between 1990 and 2015, 90 million people were treated or prevented from being blind or visually impaired. However, due to an ageing and growing global population, we could see blindness triple by 2050 if access to eye health services is not improved.
A staggering 75% of people with visual impairment are suffering from a condition that could be treated or prevented.
Whilst the five countries with the lowest rates of blindness are all in Europe, most countries with the highest rates of blindness are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
That is why your support is so vital to meet the challenges ahead. With your help, we are able to fight avoidable blindness and ensure that no one goes blind simply because of where they were born.
You can explore the figures at atlas.iapb.org/
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