AQLI Top Charts 2025
Our latest report from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) reveals the immense toll air pollution can have on life expectancy. Follow along as we roll out ten easy-to-digest charts that uncover the most compelling findings. These findings show the severity of the problem, but also the benefits strong policies could bring to improve our health and lengthen our lives.
#1 - Climate-fueled wildfires are increasing pollution in Canada and beyond—a bellwether for other regions?
In 2023, Canada experienced its worst wildfire season in the country’s history. As wildfire smoke spread throughout the region, it led to the highest particulate pollution levels in Canada in at least 26 years, contributing to a 35 percent increase in pollution over the decade. And, it had a significant impact on health. Those living in the most impacted regions breathed air comparable to the most polluted parts of Latin America—pollution that could cut lives short by more than 2 years if sustained.
#2 - Particulate pollution is the greatest external risk to human health globally
Measured in terms of life expectancy, the AQLI reveals that particulate pollution (PM2.5) is consistently the world’s greatest external risk to human health. While particulate pollution is set to reduce global average life expectancy by 1.9 years, smoking, for instance, reduces global life expectancy by about 1.7 years.
#3 - Nearly 5 billion lack pollution information—a critical protection tool
Particulate air pollution (PM₂.₅) remains the world’s greatest external risk to human health, according to the AQLI. Yet, the countries that are most impacted by air pollution often lack the fundamental resources to combat it. While the AQLI provides important annual information based on satellite data that gives a clear indication of the costs of air pollution across a lifetime, people can also benefit from understanding the quality of the air they breathe daily, provided by local air quality monitors on a real-time basis.
#4 - Pollution is highly unequal around the world, and so are policy ambitions
Whether pollution is increasing or decreasing, it’s clear that some regions of the world are much more polluted than other regions. People living in the most polluted places (most polluted quintile) breathe air that is six times more polluted than the air breathed by those living in the least polluted places (least polluted quintile). That means that pollution in the most polluted places is cutting 2.7 more years off the lives of those living in them compared to those in the cleanest places.
#5 - When countries meet their national standards, life expectancy improves
National pollution standards are a powerful tool to reduce pollution. Yet, 32 percent of the world’s population lives in regions that don’t meet their country’s own standards. If those countries did meet their own benchmarks, those 2.5 billion people would live an average of 11 months longer.
#6 - South Asia remains the most polluted region globally, with pollution 52 percent higher than China
Over the past two decades, particulate pollution (PM₂.₅) levels have remained fairly constant for most of the world. However, since 2013, air pollution’s course has been made up of two competing regional trends. China has had staggering success in combating pollution since declaring a “war on pollution” in 2014. Despite a slight increase in pollution this year, the country has reduced its pollution by 40.8 percent since 2014.
#7 - Pollution is spreading across the United States for the first time in 5 years
Driven by Canadian wildfires, pollution in the United States in 2023 was not only the highest it's been in the last decade, but also more geographically spread. As wildfire smoke expanded across Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and even to Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and as far south as Mississippi, many counties in these states became the top 10 most polluted for the first time since 2019—replacing counties in California, which typically dominate the list. This is not to say that pollution levels in California have reduced—they have remained fairly constant over the past two years. But it does indicate that air quality became a problem for many more states in 2023.
#8 - Air pollution is a greater threat than violence in parts of Latin America
In 2023, air pollution in Latin America spiked to its highest level since AQLI data records began in 1998. While the average resident would gain up to one year of life expectancy if their air quality met the WHO guideline, in the most polluted regions life expectancy could be extended by more than 4 years—comparable to some of the most polluted regions in South Asia.
#9 - Funding has been a barrier to progress in Central and Western Africa
The health focus in Sub-Saharan Africa has largely centered on infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria—which received more than $1.8 billion annually from The Global Fund. But the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) shows that the region, home to three of the top 10 most polluted countries in 2023, impacts life expectancy in a comparable and sometimes more devastating way than these other causes. Yet, air pollution receives less than $300,000 annually—far less than the average price of a single-family home in the United States. That's equivalent to about $17,000 per life year lost, and far less than the hundreds of thousands per life year lost for HIV/AIDS and malaria.
#10 - China’s air quality policies have swiftly reduced pollution, improved life expectancy
Despite significant increases in particulate pollution (PM₂.₅) in many regions of the world, global pollution has declined since 2014. That decline is due entirely to China’s success in steeply reducing pollution. In 2013, China experienced some of its highest pollution levels to that point, and public awareness and criticism reached new heights. The following year, at the 2014 annual meeting of the People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang declared a “war against pollution.”