253 million people visually impaired worldwide
In 2019, it was estimated that 253 million people worldwide suffered from visual impairment, with 217 million described as having low vision and 36 million described as being blind.
Approximately 90% of visually impaired people live in developing countries. While 81% of all people who are blind or have moderate to severe vision impairment are aged 50 years and above. The two main causes of visual impairment worldwide are uncorrected refractive errors such as myopia and unoperated cataract.
An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired. Of these, 12 million have refractive errors that could be easily diagnosed and corrected.
The XOVA program aims to help reduce the burden of blindness around the world by providing funding to projects that strive to make improvements within the field of eye care.
The WHO follow the Universal eye health: a global action plan (2014-2019)