Childhood myopia has emerged as a major global public health challenge, with implications extending into adulthood ocular morbidity. This comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized data from 276 studies encompassing over 5.4 million children and adolescents across 50 countries to estimate global prevalence trends and future projections of myopia from 1990 to 2050. The pooled prevalence of myopia increased steadily from approximately 24% in 1990 to nearly 36% in 2023 and is projected to approach 40% by 2050 , translating to more than 740 million affected children worldwide.
Higher prevalence was consistently observed in East Asia, urban populations, females, adolescents, and high school students. These findings underscore a rapidly escalating burden of myopia with marked geographic and demographic disparities, emphasizing the urgent need for population-level prevention…
