Registered Blind and Partially Sighted Persons, Scotland 2010

Introduction and key points

The purpose of this Statistics Release is to present national figures on visually impaired persons registered with Local Authorities in Scotland. All figures relate to the 31 ^st March 2010 and are provisional and, as such, may be subject to change. The final figures will be published in future publications.

Registration with Local Authorities for blind and partially sighted persons is not compulsory. Research studies suggest that between a quarter and a third of visually impaired people are in fact registered with Local Authorities (see background note for more details).

Chart 1: Registered Visually Impaired Persons by Age Group, 2010

Source: Registration of Blind and Partially Sighted Persons Return Form SWB

Information collected on visually impaired persons show that: -

• In 2010, the number of people registered as blind or partially sighted was estimated to be 34,492.
• There were 2,985 cases registered during the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010, an increase of 1.7 per cent on 2009.
• The majority, 55 per cent, of those on the register were blind, 45 per cent were partially sighted.
• 39 per cent of those on the register were male and 61 per cent were female.
• Three-quarters (75 per cent) of those registered were over the age of 65.
• 11,158 persons (32 per cent) of those registered as visually impaired had additional disabilities. Of these, nearly a quarter were deaf (22 per cent).