Optometric manpower resources--1973. Part III

The Optometric Manpower Resources Project, funded under government contract since June of 1971, has completed its 1973 national census of licensed optometric manpower in the United States. The first article in this series of three reported on the distribution of optometrists by census region and the current ratios of practicing optometrists to civilian population. The second article reported on the principal forms of employment of active optometrists, the number of years in practice and practice size. This third article reports on the age and sex distributions of licensed optometrists, their racial/ethnic composition, their pattern of specialization, and the schools/colleges of optometry from which they graduated. The data indicate that almost 50% of active optometrists were over 50 years of age. Approximately 90% of male optometrists and only 58.5% of female optometrists were active. The data also indicate that one-third of all optometrists active in 1973 graduated from four schools/colleges of optometry.