The Impact of Vision Problems on Households' Incomes: Evidence From the 2019 and 2022 Rounds of the Turkey Health Survey

Vision problems reduce individuals' quality of life, and they also reduce their productivity as workers and consequently decrease their incomes. Most vision problems can be corrected with properly fitted eyeglasses, but many people with vision problems do not have such eyeglasses. There is very little research to date on the impact of vision problems on workers' productivity, and no studies at a national scale. This paper addresses this gap by estimating the impact of vision problems on the probability of working and on the household incomes of workers, using a nationally representative survey from Turkey. Estimates indicate that vision problems reduce the employed population by 2.1% and the income of those who are employed by 1.4%. Combined, the overall impact of vision problems is to reduce household income by 3.5%.