III.

Prevalence and Incidence

About 750,000 Americans are considered legally blind and about 50,000 new cases of blindness occur each year. Approximately 8.9 million people have low vision. Of these, about 1.5 million cannot read ordinary newspaper type even with the aid of eyeglasses or other optical aids that provide significant magnification . Although it is very difficult to determine the global prevalence of blindness, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 40 to 45 million people are blind worldwide and an additional 160 million individuals suffer from low vision.