Official documentation
Blindness and vision impairment (fact sheet)
World Health Organization, 2026
Read the originalRead on October 16, 2026
- What it is
- The World Health Organization's fact sheet on vision impairment and blindness, covering global prevalence, leading causes (refractive error and cataract), who is affected and the cost of vision loss. Dated 10 February 2026.
- How much weight it carries
- Authoritative global health body summarizing published epidemiological estimates. Global counts are modelled estimates with wide uncertainty, and they include mild impairments that glasses or surgery can correct.
Facts taken from this source
- Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment, and in at least 1 billion of these cases it could have been prevented or has not yet been addressed.
“Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. In at least 1 billion - or almost half - of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.” (Prevalence)