About what share of Americans wear prescription eyeglasses?
Answerabout 64%
About 64% of Americans wear prescription eyeglasses, making glasses the most common form of vision correction in the country.
Source: The Vision Council (2023) glasses.com
Health · Facts & sources
Optical facts & stats
4 sourced facts about eyesight, glasses and vision correction, each with the context behind the number. 4 more are in today's round and appear here after it closes.
The basics
Going deeper
About how many people worldwide live with some form of vision impairment or sight loss?
Answerabout 1.1 billion
The IAPB Vision Atlas estimates 1.1 billion people worldwide live with some degree of sight loss, from mild vision impairment to full blindness.
Source: International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (2020) visionatlas.iapb.org
Benjamin Franklin is popularly credited with inventing which everyday eyewear item, and around what year?
Answerbifocals, around the 1780s
Benjamin Franklin is popularly credited with inventing bifocals around the 1780s, though historians note several opticians of the era may share the credit.
Source: Wikipedia (history of bifocals) (2020) en.wikipedia.org
Expert level
What share of all global vision impairment is caused by uncorrected refractive error (needing only glasses)?
Answer43%
Uncorrected refractive errors like nearsightedness and farsightedness cause about 43% of vision impairment worldwide — the single largest cause.
Source: World Health Organization (via Wikipedia) (2012) en.wikipedia.org
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