Almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits, and threatens their health, new WHO air quality database show.
The WHO stated that a record number of over 6,000 cities in 117 countries are now monitoring air quality, but the people living in them are still breathing unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, with people in low and middle-income countries suffering the highest exposures.
The findings prompted the World Health Organization to highlight the importance of curbing fossil fuel use and taking other tangible steps to reduce air pollution levels.
“Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner, healthier energy systems. High fossil fuel prices, energy security, and the urgency of addressing the twin health challenges of air pollution and climate change, underscore the pressing need to move faster towards a world that is much less dependent on fossil fuels”.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
WHO’s air quality database
Released in the lead-up to the World Health Day, the 2022 update of the World Health Organization’s air quality database introduces, for the first time, added measurements of annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a common urban pollutant and precursor of particulate matter and ozone. It also includes measurements of particulate matter with diameters equal or smaller than 10 μm (PM10) or 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Both groups of pollutants originate mainly from human activities related to fossil fuel combustion.
The new air quality database is considered the most extensive coverage of air pollution exposure on the ground. Some 2,000 more cities/human settlements are now recording ground monitoring data for particulate matter, PM10 and/or PM2.5, compared to the last update. This marks an almost 6-fold rise in reporting since the database was launched in 2011, the WHO stated.
Meanwhile, the evidence base for the damage air pollution does to the human body has been growing rapidly and points to significant harm caused by even low levels of many air pollutants. WHO stated that particulate matter, especially PM2.5, is capable of penetrating deep into the lungs and entering the bloodstream, causing cardiovascular, cerebrovascular (stroke) and respiratory impacts. “There is emerging evidence that particulate matter impacts other organs and causes other diseases as well”, WHO warned.
NO2 is associated with respiratory diseases, particularly asthma, leading to respiratory symptoms (such as coughing, wheezing or difficulty breathing), hospital admissions and visits to emergency rooms
Higher income countries see lower particulate pollution
In the 117 countries monitoring air quality, the air in 17% of cities in high-income countries fall below the WHO’s Air Quality Guidelines for PM2.5 or PM 10. In low- and middle-income countries, air quality in less than 1% of the cities complies with WHO recommended thresholds.
Globally, low- and middle-income countries still experience greater exposure to unhealthy levels of PM compared to the global average, but NO2 patterns are different, showing less difference between the high- and low- and middle-income countries, WHO stated.
About 4000 cities/human settlements in 74 countries collect NO2 data at ground level. Aggregated, their measurements show that only 23% of people in these places breathe annual average concentrations of NO2 that meet levels in the recently updated version of WHO’s Air Quality Guidelines.
The evidence base for the harm caused by air pollution has been growing rapidly and points to significant harm caused by even low levels of many air pollutants. WHO, last year, revised its Air Quality Guidelines, making them more stringent in an effort to help countries better evaluate the healthiness of their own air. Based on the recent findings, WHO called for a rapid intensification of actions to adopt or revise and implement national air quality standards according to the latest WHO Air Quality Guidelines.
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