According to a study published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology there are over 200,000 eye doctors in practice across the world. However, this is not enough to keep up with the current needs of developing countries and the increasing demands of aging populations.

The study findings are based on an International Council of Ophthalmology survey that involved 213 ophthalmic societies in 193 countries between March and April 2010.

The survey was created in order to determine how many ophthalmologists are currently practicing in each country, as well as to determine the growth rate of the profession.

Of the 193 countries 192 responded. Results showed that in 2010, half of the 205,000 ophthalmologists were in the USA, China, Japan, India, Russia, and Brazil.

Results showed that the number of ophthalmologists practicing by country varied between 0 to over 28,000 in China. Approximately 131 of the 192 countries had less than 5% of the total number between them.

The researchers found that level of economic development impacted the average number of ophthalmologists per million of the population, ranging from 79 per million in high income countries to 9 per million in low income countries – an eight times difference.

The highest average numbers were in former communist regimes (83.8), while the lowest average number was in Sub-Saharan Africa (2.7) – a 30-fold difference.

In 23 countries, the researchers found less than 1 ophthalmologist per million of the population, 30 countries had 1-4 ophthalmologists per million of the population, 48 countries had 4-25 per million, and 74 countries had 25-100 per million of the population.

According to the results, only 18 countries had over 100 ophthalmologists per million of the population.

Data on ophthalmologists entering and leaving the profession in 2009 was provided by 73 nations, representing over half of the world’s population.

The data revealed that the numbers fell in 5 countries, stayed the same in 20 countries, and increased in 48 countries.

In 2010, the overall number of ophthalmologists rose by 1.2%, primarily in low-income countries.

Although the overall capacity is increasing quicker than the general population, the opposite is true in high income countries.

According to the researchers, there are not enough ophthalmologists to keep up with the increasing number of individuals aged 60+ who will require their care.

For instance, between 2009 and 2010, the proportion of individuals aged 60+ in the same 73 countries increased by 2.9%. However, the proportion of ophthalmologists only rose by 1.2%. The authors state that on average, the number of individuals who will require care from ophthalmologists is growing over two times faster than the profession is able to supply them, particularly in high income countries.

They explain:

“The implication [is] that in a number of countries, both developing and developed, it will be extremely challenging to train enough ophthalmologists to provide the care that will be needed in the years to come.”

They state that their data “delineate a dire situation” and that “It is necessary to begin aggressively training eye care teams now to alleviate both the current shortfall in developing countries and the anticipated shortfall in developed countries.”

Written by Grace Rattue