Research

Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050

Myopia is a common cause of vision loss, with uncorrected myopia the leading cause of distance vision impairment globally. Individual studies show variations in the prevalence of myopia and high myopia between regions and ethnic groups, and there continues to be uncertainty regarding increasing prevalence of myopia.


Global:

  • Number of myopes – 1.4 billion (2000) up to 5 billion (2050)

  • Number of high myopes – 163 million (2000) up to 1 billion (2050)

Australasia (Australian & New Zealand):

  • Number of myopes – 4.5 million (2000) up to 21.8 million (2050)

  • Number of high myopes – 547,000 (2000) up to 4.3 million (2050)

North America (U.S. & Canada):

  • Number of myopes – 89 million (2000) up to 260 million (2050)

  • Number of high myopes – 11 million (2000) up to 66 million (2050)

Western Europe (Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom):

  • Number of myopes – 87 million (2000) up to 252 million (2050)

  • Number of high myopes – 9 million (2000) up to 43 million (2050)

Publication date

February 23, 2016

Publication

American Academy of Opthalmology

Authors

Brien A. Holden, Timothy R. Fricke, David A. Wilson, Monica Jong, Kovin S. Naidoo, Padmaja Sankaridurg, Tien Y. Wong, Thomas J. Naduvilath, Serge Resnikoff
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