Interesting Facts about Vision Loss
Did you know?
- Vision problems affect one in 20 preschool age children (ages 3 to 5) and 25 percent of school-age children (ages 6 to 17).
- Over one million Americans aged 40 and over are currently blind, and an additional 2.4 million are visually impaired. These numbers are expected to double over the next 30 years as the baby boom generation ages.
- Every seven minutes a person in the United States loses his or her sight, often as part of the aging process. Seventy percent of severely visually impaired persons are age 65 and older. Fifty percent of that group is legally blind.
- For people age 65 and older, the rate of legal blindness is 135 per 1,000.
- Legal blindness does not necessarily mean total blindness; 90 percent of people who are legally blind have some remaining vision.