The main targets of the St. Vincent declaration of 1989 and of the WHO programme Health for All 2000 are reduction of loss of sight and especially of blindness associated with diabetes. However, hardly any data on blindness are available that describe a basic situation and would be suitable as a starting point for planning interventions and assessing them from the viewpoints of efficacy and efficiency. Only few studies have been conducted so far with detailed population-related data on the incidence and relative risks of blindness, as well as the associated mortality. The article reviews these studies and presents investigations that are presently being conducted in our department in this regard. The results obtained so far point to an increased incidence of blindness in peoples with diabetes, high relative and attributable risks especially in the young and middle-aged, and increased mortality rates subsequent to blindness, compared to the total population.