OBJECTIVES: Visual impairment is an important health issue that constitutes a limitation in professional and social life. Due to these limitations, visually impaired individuals can estrange from working life. This study aims to calculate the productivity loss experienced by visually impaired individuals in Turkey.

METHODS: The data used in the analysis was taken from the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services, and the Turkish Statistical Institute. Among the visually impaired population between 20 and 65 years of age in Turkey, the rate of participation in visually impaired employment and the number of prospective visually impaired employees were calculated. Subsequently, the number of employees who could have taken place if these individuals had not been visually impaired was calculated with the figures of the general community. For this purpose, the Turkish employment participation rate and the Turkish unemployment rate were used. With the data obtained, productivity loss was calculated in visually impaired individuals.

RESULTS: The employment gap rate for visually impaired people was calculated as 58%. Productivity loss over visually impaired labor force participation was calculated as 37.78%. The population who could participate in employment and employed if they were not visually impaired was estimated to be 94,756 and 81,490 people while these numbers are currently as 39.888 and 31.254 for visually impaired people, respectively. According to these data, average annual individual income loss per capita due to visual impairment is 18.514.34 TL, loss of income tax, and Socal Security Institution healthcare and retirement premiums are 3.036.73 TL and 2.460.48 TL in Turkey, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Visually impaired individuals in the age group who can participate in employment have both been observed to experience individual economic losses which cause an economic loss for the public also. The findings should be evaluated with survey and panel studies.