Vision Health Data and Statistics (April 2022)

  • updated Apr 23, 2021

We’ve collected data to create this comprehensive resource on everything you need to know about vision health data and statistics today. By presenting research and statistics both, we hope to help all our readers live more comfortable, healthy lives.

Vision is typically regarded as the most dominant of the body’s senses. It plays a central role in every part of your life – throughout every stage of life. 

Unfortunately, eye conditions that can lead to vision loss are extremely common, especially as people are living longer. In fact, most people who live past 50 years will suffer from some type of vision impairment, often caused by common eye diseases such as cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.

Key Takeaways (U.S Data)

  • An estimated 93 million adults in the United States are at high risk for serious vision loss
  • The annual cost of vision disorders is $145 billion in 2022
  • An average of 1.3 million Americans over the age of 40 are legally blind.
  • More than 150 million Americans use corrective lenses for refractive errors.
  • About 37 million Americans use contact lenses.
  • It is estimated that about 1 million Americans develop eye infections each year
  • Glaucoma affects an estimated 2.7 million Americans aged 40 or older.
  • Cataracts currently affect more than 24.4 million Americans over age 40

How many people wear vision correction?

Stats

The percentage of American adults using any form of vision correction was historically trending down slightly over the past 15 years (it used to be in the 77%‐78% range).

However since 2007 the decline has been slowing and has not been as precipitous as it was 8, 10, 12+ years ago. 

In fact, with the recent economic and population growth, even the relative number of US adults using vision correction has increased.

About 75% (⅔ of American adults) use some sort of vision correction, according to The Vision Council.

A projected 164 million American adults wear glasses, according to The Vision Council.

About 64% of American adults wear eyeglasses, and about 11% wear contact lenses, either exclusively, or with glasses.

Blindness and low vision

Visual impairment is a term experts use to describe any kind of vision loss, whether it's someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss

Stats
Over 90 million Americans are considered high risk for vision loss or impairment
Only 50% of Americans considered high risk for vision loss have visited an eye doctor in the past 12 months.
Vision problems in Americans aged 40 and over is estimated to have an annual economic impact of more than $145 billion.
Approximately 4.2 million Americans aged 40 and over are considered visually impaired, meaning that their BCV in their better seeing eye is 20/40 or worse, including those with low vision and those who are legally blind.

Blindness in the United States

lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem​lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem​lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem​lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem​lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem​

Stats
Approximately 1.3 million people in the US are considered legally blind, meaning their visual acuity is worse than 20/200 in their best seeing eye.
By 2050, the number of legally blind people in the US is expected to grow to approximately 2.176 million.
The CDC estimates that 90% of diabetes-related blindness in the US is preventable.

lorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsum

lorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsum

lorem ipsum
lorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsum
lorem ipsum
lorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsum
lorem ipsum
lorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsum
lorem ipsumlorem ipsum
lorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsumlorem ipsum
of adults have a job that requires prolonged use of a tablet or computer
0 %
of teens between the ages of 12 to 17 use electronic devices at least occasionally
0 %
of teens have access to or have a personal computer or a laptop.
0 %

© 2022 WantLens. All Rights Reserved.