Key information and statistics on sight loss in the UK

More than two million people are living with sight loss in the UK

This level of sight loss is severe enough to have a significant impact on their daily lives. On top of this, there are also many people with an eye condition who are at risk of developing sight loss in the future.

The more than two million people living with sight loss include:

• People who are registered as sight impaired or severely sight impaired
• People whose vision is better than the levels that qualify for registration
• People who are awaiting or undergoing treatment or surgery that may improve their sight
• People whose sight loss could be improved by wearing correctly prescribed glasses or contact lenses

There are more than one million blind and partially sighted people living with a long-term, irreversible eye health condition

Of the two million people living with sight loss in the UK, more than one million are blind and partially sighted people living with sight loss caused by a long-term eye health condition that cannot be reversed, such as age‑related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic eye disease.

Around 320,000 people are registered as Sight Impaired or Severely Sight Impaired

This subgroup of the two million has received a Certification of Vision Impairment (CVI). Eligibility is complex, but typically requires someone to be unable to read the top letter on an eye chart.

Every day 250 people start to lose their sight in the UK

This is equivalent to one person every six minutes. This statistic includes sight loss as a result of age‑related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, and some of the other causes of permanent and irreversible sight loss in the UK. Many more people will start to live with sight loss as a result of uncorrected refractive error and cataract.

More people will have sight loss in the future

The number of people in the UK with sight loss is set to increase significantly. It is predicted that by 2050 the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to over four million.

One in five people will live with sight loss in their lifetime

In addition, many more people will experience sight loss as a result of eye injury, cataract or refractive error.

The majority of people with sight loss are older

Age is a significant risk factor related to eye health and sight loss. Nearly 80 per cent are 65 years or older.

Well over half of people with sight loss are women

Around 60 per cent of people living with sight loss are women.

Younger people from certain ethnic minority groups are at greater risk of some of the leading causes of sight loss

But overall people from ethnic minority backgrounds are not more likely to have sight loss compared to white people. This is because risk of sight loss is so closely linked to age, and ethnic minority groups in the UK have a younger average age.

Our Insight snapshots are a series of two-page documents on key topics. We will be expanding the series over the coming months to feature a range of topics including Getting around, Employment, Education, Technology and more.