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Myopia and refractive error in Vietnam: what the studies actually say (2026)
Key figures
- 49.8% of the world population, about 4.76 billion people, is projected to be myopic by 2050; 938 million (9.8%) with high myopia of −5.00 D or worse (Holden et al., Ophthalmology, 2016).
- 22.9% of the world population, 1.41 billion people, was myopic in 2000, the baseline for that projection (Holden et al., Ophthalmology, 2016).
- 39.80% of children and adolescents worldwide are projected to be myopic by 2050, up from 35.81% in 2023; pooled from 276 studies, 5.4 million participants, 50 countries (British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2024).
- 37.60% (95% CI 27.78–47.43) of Vietnamese schoolchildren have a refractive error and 28.83% (95% CI 19.24–38.42) are myopic, pooled from 6 studies and 15,825 children; an estimated 6–8 million children nationwide; urban prevalence more than twice rural; girls higher than boys (Nguyen et al., Clin Exp Optom, 2025).
- 2.2 billion people worldwide have a near or distance vision impairment; in at least 1 billion cases it could have been prevented or is still unaddressed (WHO, World report on vision, 2019).
- 88.4 million people have distance vision impairment from uncorrected refractive error; 826 million have near vision impairment from uncorrected presbyopia (WHO fact sheet, Feb 2026).
- US$14.3 billion is WHO's estimate of the cost to clear the backlog of 1 billion people needing glasses or cataract surgery (WHO, World report on vision, 2019).
- 6.3 million school-years and US$173 billion in future earnings are lost each year worldwide because children's refractive errors go uncorrected (IAPB Vision Atlas, Viet Nam).
- 32.4% of secondary-school students in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province have a refractive error (432 students, 4 schools, Dec 2023 – Aug 2024); of those, only 52.1% wear correct-strength glasses, 25.7% wear the wrong strength and 22.2% are newly found with no glasses at all (Pham & Tran, Vietnam Medical Journal, 2026).
- 50.9% of students at one high school in Dak Lak have a refractive error (627 students, 2022), rising by grade: 43.2% in grade 10, 50.3% in grade 11, 58.0% in grade 12 (Tay Nguyen University Journal of Science, 2022).
- 20.4% (95% CI 12.8–28.0) of 12-to-15-year-olds in Ba Ria – Vung Tau had vision impairment from myopia (2,238 students, 13 schools, cycloplegic autorefraction); refractive error caused 92.7% of vision impairment found (Paudel et al., Clin Exp Ophthalmol, 2014).
- 14.2% (95% CI 12.7–15.7) of lower-secondary students in rural Nghe An were myopic (Hoang Mai town, 4 schools, Dec 2018 – Jan 2019), rising from 10.5% in grade 6 to 17.7% in grade 9 (PubMed PMID 32368006, 2020).
- 48.7% of lower-secondary students in Hue were myopic (647 students, 5 schools) and almost two-thirds of myopic students did not wear glasses; wearing glasses was associated with a higher GPA among students with reduced acuity (Nguyen HTL et al., PLoS One, 2025).
- 13.6% of Vietnamese aged 50 and over had vision impairment and 0.59% were blind in the 2007 RAAB survey, the oldest figure on this page, kept as a baseline (RAAB Vietnam 2007, cited in a 2012 BRVT study).
- Viet Nam has been validated by WHO as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem (IAPB Vision Atlas, Viet Nam).
1. What share of Vietnamese schoolchildren are myopic?
About 28.83% of Vietnamese schoolchildren are myopic (95% CI 19.24–38.42) and 37.60% have some refractive error (95% CI 27.78–47.43), according to a meta-analysis of 6 studies and 15,825 children published up to April 2024 by Nguyen et al., Clin Exp Optom, 2025. It is the only nationwide figure produced by a registered pooled analysis, so it is the one to use when a single national rate is needed.
Read the confidence interval and the prediction interval (0% to 77%) carefully: the authors themselves note that screening methods and myopia definitions differ across the underlying studies, which weakens the pooled estimate. That is why local surveys range from 14.2% in rural Nghe An to 75.6% in inner-city Ho Chi Minh City; see the table in section 3.
2. How will myopia change worldwide by 2050?
Roughly half the world population, 49.8%, is projected to be myopic by 2050, against 22.9% in 2000, according to Holden et al., Ophthalmology, 2016. For children and adolescents specifically, a more recent analysis in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2024 projects 39.80% by 2050.
The two figures are not interchangeable: Holden et al. model the whole population at all ages, while the BJO analysis covers only those under 20. Vietnamese press often attributes the 2050 projection to "the WHO"; it is not a WHO figure. It comes from Brien Holden Vision Institute with UNSW and the Singapore Eye Research Institute.
3. What do the Vietnamese studies say, and why do their numbers differ?
Surveys published between 2007 and 2026 put refractive error or myopia among Vietnamese students anywhere from 14.2% to 75.6%; the spread comes mainly from who ran the survey, when, where, at what age and by what method, not from the rate tripling in a few years.
| Study / organisation | Survey year | Location | Sample | Age | Method | Main result | Source type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nguyen, Ghorbani-Mojarrad, Cufflin, Mallen (University of Bradford) | Studies to Apr 2024 | Nationwide | 15,825 (6 studies pooled from 15 / 32,211 children) | School-age | Meta-analysis, PRISMA 2020, PROSPERO CRD42024524780 | Refractive error 37.60% (95% CI 27.78–47.43); myopia 28.83% (95% CI 19.24–38.42); hyperopia 0.41% | Nguyen et al., Clin Exp Optom, 2025 — peer-reviewed |
| Pham Thi Nha Truc, Tran Thi Thu Phuong | Dec 2023 – Aug 2024 | Ba Ria – Vung Tau, 4 lower-secondary schools | 432 | Lower secondary | Random sampling; acuity test and clinical refraction | 32.4% refractive error; 25.7% wearing wrong strength; 22.2% newly found | Pham & Tran, Vietnam Medical Journal, 2026 — peer-reviewed |
| Tay Nguyen University | Jan – Dec 2022 | One high school, Dak Lak | 627 | Grades 10–12 | Acuity test and refraction | 50.9% refractive error; 43.2% → 58.0% by grade | Tay Nguyen University Journal of Science, 2022 — peer-reviewed |
| Rural Nghe An lower-secondary study | Dec 2018 – Jan 2019 | Hoang Mai town, Nghe An, 4 schools | Grades 6–9 (n: see paper) | Grades 6–9 | Cross-sectional, SE ≤ −0.50 D | Myopia 14.2% (95% CI 12.7–15.7); grade 6 10.5% → grade 9 17.7% | PubMed PMID 32368006, 2020 — peer-reviewed |
| Paudel et al. (Brien Holden Vision Institute) | Published 2014 | Ba Ria – Vung Tau, 13 schools | 2,238 | 12–15 | Cross-sectional, stratified cluster sampling urban / rural / semi-urban; cycloplegic autorefraction | Vision impairment from myopia 20.4% (95% CI 12.8–28.0); uncorrected VA ≤6/12 19.4%; refractive error behind 92.7% of impairment | Paudel et al., Clin Exp Ophthalmol, 2014 — peer-reviewed |
| National Eye Hospital (as quoted by the Deputy Minister of Health) | 2020 | "Some" primary and lower-secondary schools, Hanoi | Not published | Primary, lower secondary | Not published | 51% refractive error (myopia 37.5%; hyperopia 8.2%; astigmatism 5.3%) | Government News Portal, 7 Oct 2024 — official statement, original report not published |
| Nguyen HTL, Tran XMT, Nakamura K et al. (Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Institute of Science Tokyo) | Published May 2025 | Hue, 5 lower-secondary schools | 647 | Lower secondary | Acuity, autorefraction, axial length | Myopia (SE ≤ −0.5 D) 48.7%; almost two-thirds of myopic students not wearing glasses | Nguyen HTL et al., PLoS One, 2025 — peer-reviewed |
| National Eye Hospital (as quoted by the Deputy Minister of Health) | 2023 | "Some" primary and lower-secondary schools, Ho Chi Minh City | Not published | Primary, lower secondary | Not published | 75.6% refractive error (myopia 52.7%) | Government News Portal, 7 Oct 2024 — official statement, original report not published |
| Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control (HCDC) | School year 2019–2020 | Ho Chi Minh City | Not stated | Students | Not stated | Over 27% refractive error | VnExpress citing HCDC, Oct 2024 — press, secondary |
"Source type": peer-reviewed = has a DOI or full text, which we read; official statement = figure announced by a government body at an event, but the underlying report with sample and method is not public; press, secondary = no original document found; listed for completeness, not for onward citation.
The two Ho Chi Minh City figures, 27% (HCDC, 2019–20) and 75.6% (National Eye Hospital, 2023), are the clearest example: different organisations, different schools, and no way to tell whether they measured or defined myopia the same way. Nothing in those two numbers supports a near-tripling in three years.
4. How many myopic students go without glasses or wear the wrong strength?
Among lower-secondary students with a refractive error in Ba Ria – Vung Tau in 2024, 52.1% wore the correct strength, 25.7% wore the wrong strength and 22.2% had no glasses yet, per Pham & Tran, Vietnam Medical Journal, 2026. In Hue, almost two-thirds of myopic students did not wear glasses (Nguyen HTL et al., PLoS One, 2025).
Put simply, of every two students with a refractive error, about one is not seeing through the right prescription. The Hue study also found glasses-wearing associated with a higher grade point average among students with reduced acuity (β = 0.462; 95% CI 0.108–0.816).
Frequently asked
Did the WHO forecast that half the world will be myopic by 2050?
No. The 49.8%-by-2050 projection is from Holden et al., published in Ophthalmology in 2016 by Brien Holden Vision Institute, UNSW and the Singapore Eye Research Institute. WHO cites the study but did not produce it.
How many children in Vietnam have a refractive error?
An estimated 6–8 million, according to the Nguyen et al. (2025) meta-analysis as reported by the IAPB Vision Atlas. The "3 million" and "5 million" figures seen in the press could not be traced to any original document, so this page does not use them.
Why are the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City rates so much higher than the national figure?
Because they come from "some" inner-city schools, where the meta-analysis finds myopia more than twice as common as in rural areas, and because the sample and method of those two surveys have not been published. The national 37.60% pools rural areas too; the rural Nghe An survey found only 14.2% myopia.
How to cite this page
Manh Long Optical (2026). Myopia and refractive error in Vietnam: what the studies actually say (2026). Updated 13 September 2026. https://manhlongoptical.com/en/learn/myopia-statistics-vietnam-2026.html
This page compiles figures from public sources, each identified on its own line and in the table. Any number not marked "Manh Long Optical" belongs to the publisher named, not to us. Corrections: mlong.optical@gmail.com.
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