Data & Statistics
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- How many Canadians are blind?
- CNIB and its clients
- Blindness and Aging
- Medical Statistics
- Eye Diseases
- Vision Health Funding - Canada vs. U.S.
- Financial Cost of Blindness
- Education and children who are blind
- A 1991 Health and Activity Limitations post-censal survey (HALS) by Statistics Canada reported that 635,000 Canadians identified themselves as having a "seeing disability".
- The study defined an individual as having a seeing disability if he or she had difficulty seeing ordinary newsprint, with corrective lenses if usually worn or had difficulty seeing the face of someone four metres (12 feet) across a room, with corrective lenses if usually worn.
- Of the 635,000 Canadians with a seeing disability:
- 511,000 were adults living in households;
- 94,000 were adults living in institutions; and
- 30,000 of these were children aged 14 years and under.
- In 2002, the total number of new clients for CNIB was 11,064..
- In 2002, the total number of registered CNIB clients was 104,187. This more than doubles the number of people served as recently as 1985.
- CNIB statistics indicate that by 2015, the number of clients will almost double to 187,000. (Goss, Gilroy 1996)
- Please note this number is conservatively estimated to capture only 50 per cent of Canadians with severe vision loss. The true prevalence
and incidence of blindness and visual impairment is really unknown because registration with the CNIB is voluntary.
- Dr. David K. Foot, professor of economics at the University of Toronto and co-author of the best selling book, Boom, Bust and Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift, says that Canada has about 20 years until an enormous crisis of blindness and low vision hits the baby boom generation as the members of that group reach their 70's.
- According to Statistics Canada, seniors will make up 21 per cent of the population by 2026 (one in five), compared to 13 per cent in 2000.
- In 2000, more than 73 per cent of new CNIB clients were 70 years old or older. This represents about 63 per cent of total clients indicating a shift to older clients.
- Individuals aged 80 to 89 represent the largest CNIB client group.
- According to a 1994 HALS post-censal study, more than one in nine Canadians over age 65 and more than one in four over age 80 experience severe vision loss that cannot be corrected with standard eyeglasses.
- According to Dr. Foot, because of differences in population growth, the growth in vision loss in the senior population will occur later in Alberta and earlier in Quebec than in most other provinces.
- Dr. Foot also referred to a Labrador study that found 12.8 per cent of Canada's Inuit population aged 52 to 85 were blind.
- The ophthalmology profession is aging. Today 35.4 per cent of practicing ophthalmologist are over the age of 55. By the year 2015, 43.2 per cent will be over the age of 55. (CMA 2001)
- The current ophthalmology graduates cannot fill the needs created by those leaving the profession. Residency programs have been reduced from 48 graduates in 1992 to only 24-28 graduates per year.
Cataracts
- Approximately 244,766 cataract operations were performed in Canada in 2001.
Glaucoma
- At least 300,000 Canadians are affected with glaucoma, with 50 per cent of patients unaware of their disease.
Age-related Macular Degeneration
- Recent surveys estimate that nearly 80,000 Canadians are currently affected with AMD and as Canadians age, that number is growing at a rate of 10,000 per year.
- In 2000, almost 50 per cent of new CNIB clients were diagnosed with macular degeneration.
Vision Health Funding - Canada vs. U.S.
- The Medical Research Council of Canada is only able to invest less than one per cent of all medical research dollars, or about $14 million, to vision research, supporting fewer than 50 research projects across the country. Compare this to U.S. National Institutes of Health which provides $450 million to eye research.
- Dr. David Maberley (et al.) estimates the annual cost of blindness
in Canada as close to $1 billion, based on CNIB registry data,
disability benefits, and tax exemptions.
- Research is underway to determine the true economic impact of visual disability in Canada.
Education and children who are blind
- There is no national standard for vision screening of pre-school children across Canada. A British Columbia report that looked at vision screening programs found that only six of 9 provinces administered provincial mass screening programs. (Gale and Micco, 1993)
- The prevalence of undetected vision problems such as amblyopia, strabismus, and errors of refraction in preschool children is estimated to be 5-10 per cent. (Robinson, Bobier and Martin 1999/2000)
