It has been estimated that more than 4 billion people across the world wear some type of glasses, with reading glasses chief among those. However, while it is no secret that glasses can help people see and read, a new study has found that reading glasses might have an economic impact too, especially in more impoverished countries.
The study was published on April 3 by Queen’s University Belfast in conjunction with the nonprofit groups VisionSpring and BRAC. The study examined people in a series of villages in Bangladesh, particularly those villagers suffering from presbyopia, or the “gradual loss of your eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects.” The study concluded that providing these people with glasses “increases income in near vision-intensive occupations and may facilitate return to work for those currently unemployed.”
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