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The association between visual impairment and mortality has been reported in many studies. As well as some ocular diseases may be\udassociated with increased mortality directly, visual impairment is also reportedly associated with many factors linked to higher risk of\uddying via indirect pathways. These include unintentional injury and increased risk of falls, reduced walking speed, lower body mass\udindex, self-reported difficulty in physical activity and nutrition, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer, dementia, anxiety, depression,\udand reduced social interaction. Visual impairment also severely affect a person’s self-ranking of his or her health. Correction for these\udconfounders has been found to attenuate the association between visual impairment and mortality, but the real mechanisms behind the\udassociation between visual impairment and mortality is still unclear. The impact of visual impairment on mortality with the decreased\udquality of life is an important health problem, and the ophthalmologists should be aware of it. In this review, we summarize all studies\udrelated to this subject in different patient populations. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2014; 44: 471-5