News on AIR (2024)

FAQs

How many people live in polluted air? ›

The “State of the Air” 2024 report finds that despite decades of progress cleaning up air pollution, 39% of people living in America—131.2 million people—still live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.

The combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths annually. Household air pollution exposure leads to noncommunicable diseases including stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.

WHO estimates that around 90% of people worldwide breathe polluted air. Over the past 6 years, ambient air pollution levels have remained high and approximatively stable, with declining concentrations in some part of Europe and in the Americas.

In 2023, only seven countries met the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines for pollution, while more than 90 percent of countries and territories exceeded them. Those are the findings of a new report by IQAir. They're a Swiss research organization that also manufactures air purifiers.

Australia topped the list as the least polluted country in the world, with 6 cities in the top 25. Of the 25 least polluted cities in the world with the best air quality, Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland) dominated the rankings with some of the cleanest air in the world in 2024.

The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills 7 million people every year: 4.2 million from outdoor air pollution, and 3.8 million from indoor air pollution from burning wood and charcoal.

Vehicle emissions, fuel oils and natural gas to heat homes, by-products of manufacturing and power generation, particularly coal-fueled power plants, and fumes from chemical production are the primary sources of human-made air pollution.

Scientists attribute the deteriorating air quality to a combination of factors including increased wildfire occurrences, which produce massive amounts of smoke and fine particulate matter, and emissions from industries and vehicles.

Cleanest air in the world in 2022. The cleanest air in the world is in Zurich. The pollution status is determined on the basis of average levels of PM2.

Why is bad air bad for you? ›

Exposure to air pollution can affect everyone's health. When we breathe in air pollutants, they can enter our bloodstream and contribute to coughing or itchy eyes and cause or worsen many breathing and lung diseases, leading to hospitalizations, cancer, or even premature death.

Nitrogen Dioxide

NO² is the most harmful of these compounds and is generated from the combustion of fuel engines and industry. It can damage the human heart and lungs and it reduces atmospheric visibility at high concentrations.

By 2050, outdoor air pollution particulate matter and ground-level ozone is projected to become the top cause of environmentally related deaths worldwide. A study showed that with no change in emissions by 2050, 1,126,000 premature mortalities are expected each year due to ozone⁸.

Pollution: 90% of world population breathes air that exceeds WHO targets on particulate matter. The UK, along with 117 other countries, exceeded the World Health Organization target on fine particulate matter in 2022, a report on world air quality shows.

“Most air pollution comes from energy use and production,” says John Walke, director of the Clean Air team at NRDC. Driving a car on gasoline, heating a home with oil, running a power plant on fracked gas: In each case, a fossil fuel is burned and harmful chemicals and gases are released into the air.

Global and regional air pollution exposure. Our estimates show that, globally, 7.3 billion people face air pollution levels that are considered unsafe by the WHO—that is, they are exposed to annual average PM2.

About 99.82% of the global land area is exposed to levels of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.

Both short- and long-term exposure to air pollution can lead to a wide range of diseases, including stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, trachea, bronchus and lung cancers, aggravated asthma and lower respiratory infections.