The Burrow
Sep 12, 2024
Worldwide, 2.2 billion people have near or distant visual impairments, with around one billion of those cases preventable if treated.1 Looking after your eyes and attending yearly optician appointments are essential for maintaining good eye health, and can prevent vision loss in the long-run, but unfortunately, not all countries have access to this kind of care.
As health insurance comparison experts, we decided to crunch the data to see the countries that suffer from visual impairments the most and least, by looking at multiple factors including moderate or severe distance visual impairment (MSVI) and blindness percentage rates, as well as search volumes per 100,000 people for “glasses” and “contact lenses”.
These are the five countries whose populations suffer from the highest levels of visual impairments.
Nepal has topped the list as the country that suffers from the most visual impairments, due to the fact it has the highest rates of MSVI and blindness, at 6.97% and 1.20%, respectively. Cataracts are the most common problems in Nepal, with more than 80% of blindness preventable if the population had access to quality eyecare providers.2
In second place is Germany; while blindness rates aren’t high, they have the most searches per 100,000 people for the term “glasses”, at 7,452, as well as the fourth highest search volumes for “contact lenses”, at 1,555 per 100,000 people.
Türkiye is the third most visually impaired country, due to the fact it has the second highest levels of MSVI at 6.37%, and the second highest levels of blindness at 1.00%. Retinal dystrophies and cataracts are the most common visual impairments in Türkiye.
With the third highest MSVI rates at 4.71%, and the sixth highest blindness rates at 0.89%, the Philippines comes in fourth place for visual impairments. Again, cataracts are the main issue, alongside glaucoma.
Japan makes up the top five, with the second highest searches for both “glasses” and “contact lenses”, at 4,854 and 1,617 searches per 100,000 people respectively. It’s important to note that for the likes of Germany and Japan, where there’s easy access to quality eyecare, rankings are higher based on purchasing glasses and contact lenses, as opposed to blindness rates.
Rounding off the top 10 most visually impaired countries are Singapore in sixth place, the United Kingdom in seventh, India in eighth, Morocco in ninth, and Egypt in 10th place. India and Morocco have the fourth and fifth highest MSVI percentage rates, at 4.63% and 4.34% of the population, respectively.
Egypt and Morocco have the third and fourth highest blindness rates, at 0.96% and 0.94%. When it comes to search volumes, Ireland and Sweden have the third and fourth most searches for “glasses” per 100,000 (3,352 and 3,330), despite placing 13th and 35th overall; and the UK has the most searches for “contact lenses” per 100,000, at 1,656, with Singapore having the third most.
On the other end of the spectrum, these are the countries that suffer from lower levels of visual impairment.
With the joint third lowest MSVI rates, alongside Switzerland, at 0.97%, Greece is officially the least visually impaired country. Additionally, it has the joint fifth lowest percentage of blindness, at 0.10%, alongside Switzerland, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Spain.
In second place is Belgium, with the joint sixth lowest levels of MSVI at 1.01%, and the joint lowest numbers of blind people at 0.08%. Coupled with the fact it has the ninth lowest search volume for contact lenses at 94 per 100,000 people, it would suggest that easy access to quality eyecare providers has prevented potential future visual impairment problems.
South Korea is the third least visually impaired country, with just 0.11% of the population blind, and 1.42% suffering from moderate or severe distance visual impairments.
The Netherlands has the fourth lowest visual impairment rates, due to the fact it has the joint sixth lowest rates of MSVI, at 1.01%, and blindness rates of 0.12%.
Rounding off our five least visually impaired countries is France, with the lowest MSVI rates in the world, at just 0.89%; again, hinting that like all countries in our bottom five, access to eyecare specialists means better quality eye health in the long-term.
Cyprus, Argentina, Portugal, Italy and Switzerland make up the 10 countries that have the lowest levels of visual impairments, with Italy and Switzerland having the second and joint third lowest levels of MSVI, at 0.94% and 0.97%, respectively.
Denmark ties with Belgium for the lowest levels of blindness at 0.08%, despite ranking 19th overall, with the UK and Norway tying the joint third lowest. For search volumes, Morocco, Mexico and Egypt have the lowest for “glasses”, at 71, 86, and 142 per 10,000 people respectively. For “contact lenses”, Egypt and Morocco have the least, at just three searches per 100,000; followed by Türkiye and Indonesia.
There are several things you can do now to help prevent sight loss in the future, with these tips easy to follow, if you’re not already doing them.
You should have an eye test every two years as a minimum, even if you don’t think there are any changes to your vision, as they can help to pick up potential conditions at the early stages. If you notice any changes to your vision, then don’t wait until your routine appointment – get in touch with your optician, so you can get to the root of the cause.
If you’ve been prescribed glasses, then make sure you wear them – whether you need them for computer work or driving – otherwise, you could cause further sight issues. You should also always wear sunglasses when out in the sun, as UVA and UVB rays can cause cataracts.
If you spend your day working on a laptop, or you’re on your phone a lot, then make sure you give your eyes regular breaks, otherwise you could strain them. The 20-20-20 rule can help with this: after 20 minutes of staring at a screen, for 20 seconds, look at something 20 feet (6.1 metres) away.
A diet that’s low in saturated fats will help to reduce your risk of developing things like diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity – all of which can lead to various eye diseases. You should also stop smoking, as that’s linked to age-related macular degeneration, which is another cause of sight loss.
Many DIY jobs – and even racquet sports – can cause eye-related injuries, so make sure you’re wearing the right eye protection when needed, whether you’re sawing or sanding, or playing tennis or squash.
Additionally, Compare the Market’s Executive General Manager of Health Insurance, Steven Spicer, said having private health insurance could help cover some eye health costs.“It’s easy to take your sight for granted, but regular optician appointments can keep a check on signs of potential future diseases, to keep your eyes healthy in the long run. The great news is, Medicare will cover the cost of eligible optician appointments, making this care affordable and accessible for Australians,” Mr Spicer said.
“If your optician prescribes you with glasses or contact lenses, that’s where a health insurance extras policy that includes optical benefits can help.
“Provided you have served any relevant waiting periods, your health fund will pay a benefit towards prescription glasses and contact lenses up to a certain amount per year, while gold tier hospital cover, or some silver plus policies will contribute towards the cost of cataract removal.
“There are a range of health insurance types and tiers on offer, so it’s worth comparing which policies suit your needs and budget.”
Sources:
Methodology:
This dataset ranks 45 countries, based on the levels of vision problems. To do this, four different factors were used. Once the data for the factors was collected, the factors were then normalised, to provide each factor with a score of between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given. The normalised values were then summed and multiplied by 2.5, to give each location a total score out of 10. The locations were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.
The factors used are as follows:
The factors were indexed as follows:
All data is correct as of 16/08/24. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources, and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided. When gathering search volumes for each country, the native language was used where possible. In the case of the language not being available on DeepL, or the search volume being abnormally low in the native language, then English was used instead.
Additional sources: