Glasses improve income, not just eyesight

A study found that when farsighted workers in Bangladesh were given free reading glasses, they earned 33% more than those without them .

If you are 50 or older and reading this article, there is a good chance that you are wearing a pair of inexpensive reading glasses to correct your presbyopia, or farsightedness, the age-related decline in vision that makes it progressively harder to see small print and tiny objects.

Eventually, everyone has this disease.

But for nearly a billion people in developing countries, reading glasses are a luxury that many cannot afford. afford. According to the World Health Organization, lack of access to corrective glasses hinders the learning of young students, increases the risk of road accidents and forces millions of factory workers and farmers to average age to leave the workforce too early.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Uncorrected presbyopia, unsurprisingly, makes it more difficult for breadwinners to provide for their families. That's the conclusion of a new study which found that textile workers, artisans and tailors in Bangladesh who received free reading glasses saw their income increase by 33 percent compared to those who did not. did not receive glasses.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, included more than 800 adults in rural Bangladesh, many of whom work in jobs that require intense attention to detail. Half of the participants – a mix of tea pickers, weavers and seamstresses aged 35 to 65 – were randomly selected to receive a free pair of reading glasses. The others did not receive glasses.

Researchers followed up eight months later and found that the group wearing glasses experienced a significant increase in income, receiving an average monthly income of $47.10. , compared to $35.30 for participants who did not have glasses.

Study subjects were split equally between men and women, and a just over a third were literate.

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