The global landscape of myopia prevalence and its social determinants in children and adolescents: a…

StudyFrontiers in ophthalmology· 2026

The global landscape of myopia prevalence and its social determinants in children and adolescents: a cross-regional analysis.

Chengfei Liu, Wei Dong, Zihao Wang … Zhaojiang Du

Cataract & RefractiveStudyQ2IF 2.1

Higher GDP per capita is associated with lower childhood myopia prevalence

The global landscape of myopia prevalence and its social determinants in children and adolescents: a cross-regional analysis.

Chengfei Liu … Zhaojiang Du

Frontiers in ophthalmology · 2026 · Q2 in Ophthalmology

Background

Investigation of the global profile of myopia prevalence in children and adolescents and analysis of the impact of social factors, including economic development level, social welfare, education, demographic structure, and geographical environment, on the progression of myopia.

Methods

A retrospective study analyzed data from 31 global datasets (2004-2023) to assess social determinants of myopia prevalence.

n = 31 global datasets

β = -0.863

Results

β = -0.863

richer countries had noticeably lower myopia rates in kids

n = 31 global datasets

More results

Univariate linear regression analysis revealed that GDP (β = 0.369, P = 0.027, R 2 = 0.128) and longitude (β = 0.551, P = 0.001, R 2 = 0.280) are significantly positively correlated with myopia prevalence.

More results

The negative associations of GDP per capita and average sunshine duration with myopia prevalence remained directionally consistent across most sensitivity analyses.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

East Asia exhibits the highest global prevalence of myopia in children and adolescents, while Europe and the Americas demonstrate comparatively lower, though variable, rates.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Key influencing factors include economic development (GDP), social welfare (GDP per capita), demographic structure (population distribution and urbanization), and geographical setting (longitude).

The global landscape of myopia prevalence and its social determinants in children and adolescents: a cross-regional analysis.

The global landscape of myopia prevalence and its social determinants in children and adolescents: a cross-regional analysis.

Related papers