26.4 percent of children between five and seven years old have myopia, so the pathology "continues to grow in Spain" among the child population, as highlighted by the "Child Myopia Barometer," prepared based on data collected in 2024 and 2025.
This report, developed by the ALAIN AFFLELOU Foundation and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), confirms the relationship between certain daily habits and a higher presence of myopia. Furthermore, it warns that if the trend recorded in recent years continues, the incidence could be around 30 percent by 2030.
In this regard, the study "allows tracking the evolution of child myopia in Spain and analyzing how it relates to the daily habits of minors," emphasized the professor and researcher at UCM, Cristina Álvarez Peregrina, who noted that the results show "a higher prevalence among those who spend more time on near vision activities and digital devices."
According to her, these conclusions "reinforce the need to continue researching the environmental factors that intervene in the development of myopia." Evidence of this is that the incidence stands at 14.8 percent among minors who engage in this type of activity for up to two hours a day, while it rises to 20.7 percent among those who exceed three hours a day.
Impact of screen use on child myopia
The analysis also details that myopia affects 16.5 percent of children who use screens for less than a quarter of the time they dedicate to near tasks. However, the percentage increases to 20.3 percent among those who spend more than half of that time in front of digital devices.
In light of this situation, "Families can incorporate different habits into their daily routines to care for children's vision, such as limiting continuous time in front of screens, encouraging visual breaks during near activities, and promoting outdoor activity," explained the optometrist and training manager at the visual health company ALAIN AFFLELOU, Ana Díaz, who added that "the goal is to protect visual health from an early age and reduce the risk of progression of myopia."
For this reason, the spokesperson of the entity, promoter of the "Children's Visual Health Campaign," emphasizes that the evidence collected supports the convenience of establishing periodic visual check-ups starting from the early years of life. Likewise, she reminds that early detection makes it possible to identify both myopia and pre-myopia states, which facilitates individualized monitoring and the implementation of specific measures aimed at controlling its progression.