Myopia: a growing global problem with sight-threatening complications

Globally, myopia is the leading cause of distance refractive error, affecting 1.45 billion or 27% of the world’s population in 2010 (myopia being defined as more than or equal to 0.50 D of myopia).1 The number of people with myopia is expected to continue to rise both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population.2 In certain age groups in several Asian countries, the prevalence of myopia is over 80%. Among late teenagers and young adults in Korea, Taiwan and China the prevalence is now between 84% and 97%.