How many people in the UK have sight loss?
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.
Those people living with sight loss include:
- 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.
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 ageing population will continue in coming decades.
Further information and statistics around sight loss can be found on RNIB's Key information and statistics on sight loss in the UK webpage. RNIB also have a Sight loss data tool an excel document which allows you to view the numbers by devolved nations, regions, age etc.
