What Percentage of Children Are Born Blind?
Approximately four out of every 10,000 children are certified as blind before their first birthday, but the statistics supporting this information are not considered reliable. It is difficult to determine if a newborn is blind because babies are extremely nearsighted during their first few months of life.
In 2014, there were an estimated 60,393 blind children in the United States. Common causes of blindness in children include congenital cataract, retinopathy of prematurity, vitamin A deficiency and measles. Other causes of childhood blindness include uncorrected strabismus (crossed eyes) and uncorrected amblyopia (lazy eye). Around 60 percent of children born with vision impairments have other impairments and are classified as being multiply handicapped.
