Facts about Visual Impairment

Visual Impairment statistics in the UK

Around two million people in the UK have significant sight loss and, according to research from consumer charity Ricability, many visually impaired people have trouble using mobile phones.

Reference: www.which.co.uk/news/2011/02/buying-mobile-phones-for-the-visually-impaired/

Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed elective surgical procedure in the UK with 414,000 cataract operations undertaken in England and 20,000 in Wales during 2017-2018. (Source: NOD/Royal College of Ophthalmologists)

The following information is from the RNIB document: “Eye health and sight loss stats and facts”   Report authors: John Slade and Emma Edwards.

Who does sight loss affect?

More than two million people are estimated to be living with sight loss in the UK today. This sight loss is severe enough to have a significant impact on their daily lives.

The more than two million people living with sight loss includes:

• people who are registered blind or partially sighted
• people whose vision is better than the levels that qualify for registration
• people who are awaiting or having treatment such as eye injections, laser treatment or surgery that may improve their sight
• people whose sight loss could be improved by wearing correctly prescribed glasses or contact lenses.

Causes of sight loss

The main causes of sight loss amongst the more than two million people living with sight loss are:

• Uncorrected refracted error – 39 per cent
• AMD – 23 per cent
• Cataract – 19 per cent
• Glaucoma – 7 per cent
• Diabetic eye disease – 5 per cent

Future risk

The number of people in the UK with sight loss is set to increase dramatically. It is predicted that by 2050 the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to over four million.

This is based on the assumption that the underlying risk factors associated with sight loss do not change and that broad demographic changes such as aging population will continue in coming decades.

Every day 250 people start to lose their sight

Every day 250 people start to lose their sight in the UK. This is equivalent to one person every six minutes.

This statistic includes AMD, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy and some of the other causes of permanent and irreversible sight loss in the UK. Many more people will start to live with sight loss as a result of uncorrected refractive error and cataract.

One in five people will live with sight loss in their lifetime

This is based on the assumption that the underlying risk factors associated with sight loss do not change. In addition, many more people will experience sight loss as a result of eye injury, cataract or refractive error.

285 million people live with sight loss worldwide

An estimated 285 million people are living with sight loss worldwide, with 39 million people who are blind and 246 million people who are partially sighted. Globally, the leading causes of sight loss are uncorrected refractive error and cataract.

Eye health

At least half of sight loss is avoidable

At least half of all cases of sight loss in the UK are avoidable.

This is based on how many people are living with sight loss []. The majority of sight loss due to refractive error can be corrected by wearing the right prescription glasses. Many forms of cataract are treatable. If detected and treated early, some sight loss due to glaucoma, AMD and diabetic retinopathy could be avoided.

16 million NHS eye tests

There are over 16 million NHS sight tests in the UK each year. This figure only counts people who were eligible for and claimed a free NHS eye test and does not include people who paid for their eye test.