Registered Blind and Partially Sighted People - England, Year ending 31 March 2011

Registrations

• At 31 March 2011, 147,800 people were on the register of blind people, a decrease of 5,200 (3 per cent) from March 2008. There were 9,100 new registrations to the register of blind people, a fall of 11 per cent compared to 2008.
• At 31 March 2011, 151,000 people were on the register of partially sighted people, a decrease of 5,300 (3 per cent) from March 2008. There were 11,800 new registrations to the register of partially sighted people, a fall of 10 per cent compared to 2008.

Differences between the age groups

• At 31 March 2011 the percentage of people aged 75 and over in the partially sighted group was 66 per cent, compared to 64 per cent for the blind group. The overall age distribution of the partially sighted register is similar to that of the blind registrations.
• The number of blind people on the register has decreased in all age groups compared to 31 March 2008 apart from the 50-64 age group which has risen slightly by 460 (3 per cent) from 2008.
• The number of people registered as partially sighted has decreased in all age groups apart from those aged 18-49 which has increased by 575 (3 per cent) and those aged 50-64 which has increased by 430 (3 per cent).

Registrations of people with an additional disability

• 49,300 (33 per cent) of those registered blind and 50,400 (33 per cent) of those registered partially sighted were also recorded with an additional disability.
• The most common additional disability was a physical disability, which accounted for 66 per cent and 68 per cent of blind and partially sighted registrations with additional disabilities respectively. The next most common additional disability was related to hearing which accounted for 22 per cent for both blind and partially sighted registrations.