Objective To investigate the status and the leading causes of visual disability in patients identified in Tianjin,China.Methods In an investigative study in Tianjin,a total of 15834 patients with visual disability were enrolled from January 2006 to December 2010.Personal statistics,visual function examination results and main etiology diagnoses were recorded.The grading was confirmed according to the 2nd National Sample Survey of Disability.A chi-square test was used to investigate the different leading causes.Results Male patients,urban district residents,older age groups,lower education and lower income accounted for a large part of the patient population.Among the 15834 patients,6598(41.67％) were blind and 9236(58.33％) had low vision.The principal cause is still cataract (32.82％).In addition,the main causes of blindness and low vision were different (x2=38.33,P＜0.01).Blindness resulted primarily from retinopathy/ choroidopathy (15.40％) and corneal disease (13.78％) and low vision resulted primarily from ammetropia/ amblyopia (18.32％) and retinopathy/choroidopathy (17.37％).Conclusion There were a greater number of low vision cases than blindness.Cataract is still the principal cause of visual disability.Better allocation of services and resources is urgently needed.Attention should be given to the rehabilitation of visual disability and great effort should be made to prevent uncorrected visual impairment.