Indonesia is today the world’s twentieth most polluted country. Air pollution shortens the average Indonesian’s life expectancy by 2 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline was permanently met. Some areas of Indonesia fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by more than 6 years in the most polluted regions in the country.
KEY TAKE-AWAYS
- 91 percent of Indonesia’s 268 million people live in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the WHO guideline.
- In the capital Jakarta, home to 11 million people in the city proper, particulate pollution levels are six times the WHO guideline. If this pollution persists, residents would lose 5.5 years of life expectancy relative to if the air quality complied with the WHO guideline.
- West Java is the most polluted province of Indonesia, where particulate pollution is cutting the lives of 48 million people by 4.1 years.
- Depok is the most polluted city in Indonesia. Residents there see their lifespans cut short by 6.4 years. Jakarta and Banten also have high levels of particulate pollution.
Aside from vehicles, coal, and industrial plants, biomass burning is a source of intense seasonal air pollution for much of the region. On the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, forest and peatland fires, often set illegally to clear land for agricultural plantations, create annual haze events. Though fire intensity and hotspots vary across time, the recurrence of fires in these areas each year means that residents are exposed to a high long-term average pollution concentration. In the cities of Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan and Palembang in South Sumatra, and their surrounding areas, the 10-year average particulate concentration is about three times the WHO guideline. Life expectancy for the residents of these cities is 2 years lower than what it would be if the long-term average particulate matter exposure were instead at the WHO guideline. Moreover, the fires create transboundary pollution with especially significant repercussions in Indonesia’s neighboring downwind countries.
探索数据
平均预期寿命的潜在变化
十大污染最严重地区
十大人口最多地区
Policy Impacts
The dual challenges of economic growth and environmental quality faced by Indonesia today are no different from those once confronted by other countries during periods of industrialization. Nor is this dynamic limited to the world’s wealthiest countries.
China has made tremendous progress since declaring a “war against pollution” in 2014, with cities cutting particulate pollution by about 30 percent—improving life expectancy by 1.5 years if the reductions persist. India, having declared its own war against pollution in January 2019, has likewise declared an ambitious target of 20-30 percent reduction. If it achieves a 25 percent reduction in pollution nationwide, it has the potential to improve life expectancy by 1.8 years.
