Air pollution quietly cuts nearly a year from Ghanaian lives – AQLI 2025 Report

By Michael Asharley

For many Ghanaians, the dangers of disease are well known. Malaria, HIV, unsafe water, and malnutrition dominate public health debates. But a new report reveals another silent killer in the air: pollution.

According to the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) 2025 report, fine particulate pollution (PM₂.₅) is costing the average Ghanaian nearly 0.8 years of life expectancy—roughly nine months stolen from every life. This makes dirty air the country’s sixth biggest external health threat, just behind malnutrition and HIV/AIDS.

Breathing twice the danger

The data, drawn from 2023 satellite monitoring, shows that Ghana’s average PM₂.₅ level stood at 12.91 micrograms per cubic metre. That’s more than double the World Health Organisation’s guideline of 5 µg/m³ for safe air.

In simple terms, if Ghana were able to meet the WHO standard, every citizen would live a little longer. Babies born today would inherit not just a cleaner sky, but nearly a year more of life.

The invisible killer

What makes the findings even more alarming is how air pollution compares to other well-known threats. Malnutrition shortens lives by an average of 1.35 years, malaria and neglected tropical diseases by 1.21 years, and HIV/AIDS by 1.18 years. Dirty air now follows closely behind.

The World Health Organisation in 2019 said 28,000 Ghanaians die from air pollution annually. The 2024 Global State of Air report went further, estimating that over 30,000 Ghanaians die prematurely each year because of polluted air—that is about 82 people every single day. Unlike malaria or cholera, these deaths often go unnoticed. There is no sudden fever, no outbreak to contain. The danger builds slowly, one inhalation at a time.