The need varies significantly between regions depending on average age, poverty levels, ethnicity, and environmental factors. Roughly speaking, our statistics follow the global pattern: roughly half of people over the age of 50 need reading glasses, and roughly 10% of all the people (including children) need glasses for distance seeing. The number of children requiring eyeglasses varies quite substantially by geographies. In countries such as South Korea, up to 70% of children require glasses, whereas in some African countries it can be as low as 3%.