To determine the contributions of public and private sectors to the cataract surgical number in Iran and their five-year trend from 2006 to 2010.

This report is part of the Iranian Cataract Surgery Survey in which information about cataract surgeries performed at surgical centers throughout the nation were extracted from patient charts. After estimating the number of cataract surgeries in each year, the weights of surgical centers affiliated with public and private sectors were calculated using the number of centers randomly selected from each sector, and the number of surgeries in each sector was multiplied by their weights.

Public sector’s contribution (61.7%) to CSR was 1.6 times the private sector’s (38.3%). In 2006, private sector’s share was 30.4% and increased to 38.3% in 2010. The 5-year CSR growth was 41.0% in public centers and 110.5% in private centers; i.e., cataract surgical number growth in the private sector was 2.7 times greater than that in the public sector.

The public sector has a considerable share in providing cataract surgical services, but considering the aging population, it has a slow growth. Despite a smaller contribution to cataract surgical output, the private sector has experienced substantial growth.