How many people in Canada are affected by vision loss? How big of a concern is it?
There are more than 836,000 Canadians currently living with significant vision loss. That number is expected to rise dramatically in the decades ahead with Canada’s aging population. We expect that Canada will experience what has been called a “crisis in vision loss” in the coming years. It’s a much bigger problem than most people realize. Consider that in Canada, an estimated one million of us already have some form of AMD (age-related macular degeneration), the leading cause of vision loss in people over 50. That number is expected to more than double to around two million by 2031. There are also the fundamental inequalities that people with vision loss face. For example, the employment rate among working-age people with vision loss is only 25%, despite the fact that most of this group is highly educated and qualified, a result of outdated employer attitudes. Many people with vision loss live in poverty as a result of discrimination and other barriers, so the social realities of livi
