126 CHAPTER FOUR TABLE 4-14. DISTRIBUTION OF BLINDNESS BY AGE AND SEX (NBS 1981) Estimated Number of Cases Percentage of Nepal's Total Sample N Prevalence (per 100) Male 0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70+ Total male Female 0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70+ Total female Subtotal Missing 6,099 4,388 2,605 2,135 1,677 1,277 783 415 19,379 762 1,860 1,912 2,925 3,634 9,396 13,612 13,025 47,126 0.04 0.12 0.19 0.37 0.59 2.06 4.90 9.11 0.68 0.7% 1.6 1.6 2.5 3.1 8.0 11.6 11.1 40.2 6,040 4,044 3,213 2,392 1,944 1,264 865 380 20,142 39,521 366 39,887 1,310 2,348 2,036 3,146 5,103 10,323 22,563 23,256 70,085 117,211 0 117,211 0.06 0.16 0.17 0.36 0.74 2.38 7.79 17.25 0.98 0.83 NA 0.83 1.1 2.0 1.7 2.7 4.4 8.8 19.3 19.8 59.8 100.0 NA 100.0 Total Source: FR4.003 AN.20 tween blindness prevalence rates in cities and villages. As dis- cussed above, the higher life expectancy in the urban areas may ac- count for the slight elevation in blindness prevalence in urban areas, although this may also be an artifact of the lower response rate achieved in the urban areas (see Chapters 2 and 3). It is worth stressing that more than nine out of ten (91.7%) of the blind reside in the rural areas of Nepal. 4.3.3 Geographic Characteristics Terrain: The prevalence of blindness is significantly higher in the terai (plains) of Nepal than in the hills or mountains. More than half (52.2%) of he blind live in the terai compared to 40.5 percent in the hills, 3.2 percent in the valleys and 4.1 percent in the moun-
