Most People Globally Inhale Unhealthy Air

BENGALURU, India — A recent report revealed that the majority of the world’s population is exposed to polluted air, with only 17% of cities worldwide meeting the recommended air quality standards.

IQAir, a Swiss-based air quality monitoring database, analyzed data from 40,000 monitoring stations across 138 countries. The analysis identified Chad, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India as having the most polluted air. Notably, six of the nine most polluted cities were located in India, with Byrnihat, an industrial town in northeastern India, experiencing the worst air quality.

Experts suggest that the actual extent of air pollution could be significantly higher due to inadequate monitoring in many regions. For instance, in Africa, there is only one monitoring station for every 3.7 million people.

The report indicates that efforts are underway to address this issue by increasing the number of air quality monitors. This year, the report incorporated data from 8,954 new locations and approximately one thousand new monitors, reflecting progress in air pollution monitoring.

However, air pollution data monitoring faced a setback last week when the U.S. State Department announced it would discontinue public access to data collected from its embassies and consulates worldwide.

According to Fatimah Ahamad, chief scientist and air pollution expert at the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health in Malaysia, prolonged exposure to polluted air can lead to respiratory illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution causes approximately 7 million deaths annually.

Ahamad emphasized the need for greater efforts to reduce air pollution levels, noting that the WHO has previously stated that 99% of the global population resides in areas that fail to meet recommended air quality levels.

She illustrated the urgency of the situation by stating, “If you have bad water, no water, you can tell people to wait for half an hour a day, the water will come. But if you have bad air, you cannot tell people to pause breathing.”

Several cities, including Beijing, Seoul, South Korea, and Rybnik in Poland, have successfully improved their air quality through the implementation of stricter regulations on pollution from vehicles, power plants, and industry. These cities have also promoted cleaner energy sources and invested in public transportation.

Another significant initiative aimed at curbing severe air pollution is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreement on transboundary haze pollution. Although its success has been limited to date, ten countries in the region have pledged to collaborate on monitoring and controlling pollution from large forest fires, a common occurrence in the region during dry seasons.

Shweta Narayan, a campaign lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, pointed out that regions experiencing the worst air pollution often coincide with areas where planet-heating gases are extensively released through the burning of coal, oil, and gas. She suggested that reducing planet-warming emissions to mitigate climate change can also contribute to improved air quality.

Narayan concluded that air pollution and the climate crisis are “two sides of the same coin.”

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