Much of the world lives with dangerous levels of air pollution

State of Global Air research shows 90% of people worldwide live in areas where air quality levels are below World Health Organisation standards

The entire populations of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Indonesia and Mexico are exposed to levels of PM2.5 pollution that exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and about 75% of people in the EU live in areas with above WHO PM2.5 levels.

The findings come from a new report ranking PM2.5 and ozone pollution across the world, published by the Health Effects Institute, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and scientists from the University of British Columbia.

PM2.5 means particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres and it can be produced by burning liquid and solid fuels, including coal.

The particles are so small that they can stay in the air for days, travelling hundreds and even thousands of miles, meaning you don’t have to live that near a coal power station to feel the health effects of PM2.5 pollution.

The ‘State of Global Air’ report states that air pollution will shorten the lives of children born today by as much as 20 months, as much of the world grapples with rapid industrialisation. 

According to the research, poor air quality was responsible one in every 10 deaths in 2017 and caused more premature deaths globally than obesity or alcohol in that year. Linking air pollution directly with cause of death can be complicated. But more research is linking high-levels of PM2.5 to a range of health conditions.

PM2.5 can penetrate deep into the lungs and from there into the bloodstream. In recent years, it has been linked heart failure, dementia, and alzheimers, among other illnesses. The new report quantified, for the first time, the impact of PM2.5 pollution on deaths from diabetes, indicating that more than a quarter of a million deaths from diabetes are linked to air pollution. There is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5, but the higher the concentration, the more consequential the health effects.

Air pollution monitoring around the world is patchy and concentrated in towns and cities in more prosperous countries, so the report combined data from about 10,000 air quality monitoring stations with data collected from satellites and output from global atmospheric models to estimate air pollutant levels in the entire world.

The new report shows that PM2.5 exposure for the average person in China is more five times higher than WHO levels, despite falling significantly from a peak in 2011.

Last month Unearthed revealed that 2,000 cities have dangerous levels of air pollution, including many in China, as well as south and southeast Asia. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, according to that research by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and monitoring firm AirVisual, 18 were in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Rapid industrialisation in Asia has caused an air pollution crisis on the continent. Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images

The entire populations of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Indonesia and Mexico are exposed to levels of PM2.5 pollution that exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and about 75% of people in the EU live in areas with above WHO PM2.5 levels.

The findings come from a new report ranking PM2.5 and ozone pollution across the world, published by the Health Effects Institute, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and scientists from the University of British Columbia.

PM2.5 means particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres and it can be produced by burning liquid and solid fuels, including coal.

The particles are so small that they can stay in the air for days, travelling hundreds and even thousands of miles, meaning you don’t have to live that near a coal power station to feel the health effects of PM2.5 pollution.

The ‘State of Global Air’ report states that air pollution was responsible one in every 10 deaths in 2017 and caused more premature deaths globally than obesity or alcohol in that year. Linking air pollution directly with cause of death can be complicated. But more research is linking high-levels of PM2.5 to a range of health conditions.

PM2.5 can penetrate deep into the lungs and from there into the bloodstream. In recent years, it has been linked heart failure, dementia, and alzheimers, among other illnesses. The new report quantified, for the first time, the impact of PM2.5 pollution on deaths from diabetes, indicating that more than a quarter of a million deaths from diabetes are linked to air pollution. There is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5, but the higher the concentration, the more consequential the health effects.

Air pollution monitoring around the world is patchy and concentrated in towns and cities in more prosperous countries, so the report combined data from about 10,000 air quality monitoring stations with data collected from satellites and output from global atmospheric models to estimate air pollutant levels in the entire world.

The new report shows that PM2.5 exposure for the average person in China is more five times higher than WHO levels, despite falling significantly from a peak in 2011.

Last month Unearthed revealed that 2,000 cities have dangerous levels of air pollution, including many in China, as well as south and southeast Asia. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, according to that research by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and monitoring firm AirVisual, 18 were in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.