In rural areas of China, the prevalence of children with vision problems appears to be higher than in other countries.

Using a survey of 19,977 children grade four and grade five students in 253 primary schools in northwest China, researchers from Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences explores the prevalence, correlates and potential consequences of poor vision among children in China's vast but understudied rural areas.

They find that 24% of sample students suffer from reduced uncorrected visual acuity in either eye and 16% in both eyes. Poor vision is significantly correlated with individual, parental and family characteristics, with modest magnitudes for all correlates but home province and grade level.

The results also suggest a possible adverse impact of poor vision on academic performance and mental health, particularly among students with severe poor vision.

The study has been published in China Economic Review(Hongmei Yi, Linxiu Zhang, Xiaochen Ma, Nathan Congdon, Yaojiang Shi, Xiaopeng Pang, Junxia Zeng, Lei Wang, Matthew Boswell, Scott Rozelle. (2015). Poor vision among China’s Rural Primary School Students: Prevalence, Correlates, and Consequences. China Economic Review (33): 247-262).