Current and future demographics of low vision and blindness in Canada

The current data on registered visual impairment and blindness in Canada were compared with projected clients' prevalence of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) for the next 20 years. Current and projected registered CNIB clients data were also compared with available sources on visual impairment prevalence. Current CNIB clients are mainly 65 years old and above. While the prevalence of clients under 65 will remain constant, the prevalence of older clients will increase dramatically (102%) in the next 20 years. Even if the elderly population represents more than 68% of the CNIB clients, the comparison with existing prevalence estimates shows a large discrepancy between the number of registered persons and the actual number of visually impaired individuals. This discrepancy increases with age and may increase with time, leaving many individuals without rehabilitation services. These results indicate the need to improve the general awareness of the available rehabilitation services for the visually impaired and the need to adequately plan the manpower and financial resources in the domain of rehabilitation services for visually impaired.