PREVALENCE OF VISION IMPAIRMENT: 

STATE ESTIMATES

Limited data exists on vision impairment for each state, however the resources provided 

below may be useful in determining the extent of vision loss in a particular state. 

Table 1 (pages 9 10) 

Estimates of vision loss among persons age 65 and older are based on data collected 

from the Lighthouse National Survey on Vision Loss (The Lighthouse Inc., 1995).  In order 

to determine the number of persons reporting vision problems in each state, national 

percentages were applied to Census 2000 population estimates for each state (U.S. 

Census Bureau, 2001). 

Note: These estimates are only intended to provide an approximation of self reported 

vision impairment in each state based on national estimates; they do not take into 

account differences between states (e.g., population age, race, access to health care) 

that could affect individual state estimates. 

Vision impairment is defined as follows, based on self reports: 

N 

Inability to recognize a friend across the room, even when wearing glasses;  OR 

Inability to read regular newspaper print, even when wearing glasses; OR 

N 

Self rated vision as poor or very poor, even when wearing glasses; OR 

N 

Report of some other trouble seeing, even when wearing glasses; OR 

N 

Blindness in one or both eyes   

Additional Sources of State Estimates 

Estimates of vision impairment and severe vision impairment among persons age 16 

and older for each state are available from the U.S. Census Bureau (2000).  Data are 

based on 1990 Census estimates.  Unfortunately, more recent data for each state is 

not available.  These data can be obtained from Table 3 on the following website: 

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/disable/census/disapick.html 

Vision impairment is defined as difficulty seeing words and letters in ordinary newsprint, 

even when wearing glasses or contact lenses.  

State estimates of vision impairment (based on visual acuity) among persons age 40 

and older are available from Prevent Blindness America (2002).  Data can be found on 

the following website: http://www.preventblindness.org/vpus/vp.html 

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