• June 2022

Annual Update

By Michael Greenstone, Christa Hasenkopf and Ken Lee

During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s economy slowed. Yet, the global annual average particulate pollution (PM2.5) was largely unchanged from 2019 levels. At the same time, growing evidence shows air pollution—even when experienced at very low levels—hurts human health. This recently led the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise its guideline for what it considers a safe level of exposure of particulate pollution, bringing most of the world—97.3 percent of the global population—into the unsafe zone. The AQLI finds that particulate air pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, or a combined 17 billion life-years, relative to a world that met the WHO guideline. This impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, six times that of HIV/AIDS, and 89 times that of conflict and terrorism.

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India Fact Sheet

June 2022

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China Fact Sheet

June 2022

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United States Fact Sheet

June 2022

Since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, particulate pollution has declined by 64.2 percent—extending the life expectancy of an average American by 1.3 years. Despite this success, the latest scientific evidence on the impact of air pollution at even the low levels that exist in much of the United States reveals that 92.8 percent of the population are now considered to be living in areas with unsafe levels of pollution, according to the new World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m³. That’s up from 7.6 percent under the previous WHO guideline of 10μg/m³. While there is potential for further progress, the health benefits of clean air in the United States are smaller than in many other parts of the world.

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Reports

2022 Annual Update

June 2022

Particulate pollution remained high even while Covid-19 slowed the global economy. At the same time, mounting evidence on the health impacts of pollution at low levels led to new guidelines that brought most of the world into the unsafe zone. The AQLI finds that particulate pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, or a combined 17 billion life-years, relative to a world that met the WHO guideline (5 µg/m3). This impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, six times that of HIV/AIDS, and 89 times that of conflict and terrorism.

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Fact Sheets

India Fact Sheet

June 2022

India is the world’s second most polluted country. Air pollution shortens average Indian life expectancy by 5 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) of 5μg/m3 was met. Some areas of India fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by almost 10 years in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, the most polluted city in the world.

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Nigeria Fact Sheet

June 2022

Air pollution’s impact on life expectancy in Nigeria is greater than that of HIV/AIDS and almost on par with malaria and unsafe water and sanitation, shortening the average Nigerian’s life expectancy by 1.8 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m3 was met.1 Some areas of Nigeria fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by almost 4 years on average in parts of Taraba state in Northeastern Nigeria.

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South Korea Fact Sheet

June 2022

In 2020, South Korea was amongst the top 50 most polluted countries in the world in terms of average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The AQLI shows that an average resident of South Korea stands to gain 1.5 years of life expectancy if the PM2.5 concentration is reduced to meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m3. The gain is even higher in the most polluted parts of South Korea. For example, residents of the Municipal Level Division of Osan (in the Province level division of Gyeonggi-do) stand to gain almost 2 years of life expectancy on average.

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Nepal Fact Sheet

June 2022

Nepal is the world’s third most polluted country. Air pollution shortens average Nepalese life expectancy by 4.1 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m3 was met.1 The highest concentrations of air pollution are observed in Nepal’s southwestern districts, which share their borders with the highly-polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain of India. Here, residents stand to lose nearly 7 years of life expectancy.

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Pakistan Fact Sheet

June 2022

Pakistan is the world’s fourth most polluted country. Air pollution shortens the average Pakistani’s life expectancy by 3.8 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m3 was met.1 Some areas of Pakistan fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by almost 7 years in the country’s most polluted regions, like Lahore and Peshawar.

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Bangladesh Fact Sheet

June 2022

Bangladesh is the world’s most polluted country. Air pollution shortens the average Bangladeshi’s life expectancy by 6.9 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m³ was met. Some areas of Bangladesh fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by nearly 9 years in Dhaka, the country’s most polluted city.

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Central and West Africa Fact Sheet

June 2022

In Central and West Africa, regions together comprising 27 countries and 605 million people, the average person is exposed to particulate pollution levels that are more than 4 times the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m³1. If these particulate pollution levels persist, average life expectancy in the regions would be 1.6 years lower, and a total of 971 million person-years would be lost, relative to if air quality met the WHO guideline. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, are the top three most polluted countries in the region.

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Europe Fact Sheet

June 2022

Thanks to sustained enforcement of strong policies, Europeans are exposed to 24.1 percent less particulate pollution than they were two decades ago, gaining 4 months of life expectancy because of it. Despite this success, the latest scientific evidence on the impact of air pollution at even the low levels that exist in much of Europe reveals that 95.5 percent of the population are now living in areas with unsafe levels of pollution, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) updated 5 μg/m3 guideline. That’s up from 47.2 percent under the WHO’s previous guideline of 10 μg/m3.

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Southeast Asia Fact Sheet

June 2022

Virtually all (99.9 percent) of Southeast Asia’s 656.1 million people live in areas where particulate pollution exceeds the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m³. Despite the lockdowns of the pandemic, pollution continued to rise in much of Southeast Asia in 2020. This pollution cuts short the life expectancy of the average Southeast Asian person by 1.5 years, relative to what it would be if the WHO guideline was met. That’s a total of 959.8 million person-years lost to pollution in the eleven countries that make up this region. Some countries in the region experience greater impacts from pollution.

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Indonesia Fact Sheet

June 2022

Air pollution shortens the average Indonesian’s life expectancy by 1.2 years, relative to what it would have been if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline (5 μg/m³) was met.1 Some areas of Indonesia fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by more than 2.8 years in the most polluted region (Depok city in the Province of Jawa Barat).

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China Fact Sheet

June 2022

China’s pollution has been decreasing since the country began a “war against pollution” 7 years ago. This decline continued through 2020, with pollution levels down about 40 percent compared to 2013. Due to these improvements, the average Chinese citizen can expect to live 2 years longer, provided the reductions are sustained. Nevertheless, work remains. While China’s overall PM2.5 pollution average is in compliance with its national average (35 μg/m³), pollution levels still significantly exceed the WHO guideline of 5 μg/m³.

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Thailand Fact Sheet

June 2022

Thailand is among the most polluted countries in Southeast Asia with particulate pollution reaching 23.8 μg/m3 in 2020, nearly 5 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. At current pollution levels, air pollution is shortening the average Thai resident’s life expectancy by 1.8 years relative to what it would be if the WHO guideline was permanently met. But in the Northern region (Lanna), air pollution levels are 18 to 52 percent higher than the national average, and the gains from clean air are 2 to 3 years.

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The 2008 Olympics to the 2022 Olympics: China’s Fight to Win its War Against Pollution

February 2022

China is winning Its ‘war against pollution,’ but further reductions would allow people to live longer and healthier lives.

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Reports

Indonesia’s Air Pollution and its Impact on Life Expectancy

September 2021

The average Indonesian can expect to lose 2.5 years of life expectancy at current pollution levels, according to the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), because air quality fails to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline for concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The pollution index shows that the health impacts of particulate pollution are the greatest in Depok, Bandung, and Jakarta, where particulate pollution concentrations are the highest.

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Reports

2021 Annual Update

September 2021

Over the last year, Covid-19 lockdowns brought blue skies to the most polluted regions of the globe, while wildfires exacerbated by a drier and hotter climate sent smoke to the normally clean skies of cities thousands of miles away. The conflicting events offer two visions of the future. The difference between those futures lies in policies to reduce fossil fuels. New data from the AQLI underscores the health threat of a world without policy action. Unless global particulate air pollution is reduced to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline, the average person is set to lose 2.2 years off their lives. Residents of the most polluted areas of the world could see their lives cut short by 5 years or more. Working unseen inside the human body, particulate pollution has a more devastating impact on life expectancy than communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, behavioral killers like cigarette smoking, and even war.

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Reports

2020 Annual Update

July 2020

Particulate air pollution was the greatest risk to human health before COVID-19, cutting global life expectancy by two years on average over the last two decades. And, without robust public policy, it will continue to be the greatest threat long after a COVID-19 vaccine exists. Working unseen inside the human body, air pollution’s deadly effects on the heart, lungs, and other systems have a more devastating impact on life expectancy than communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, behavioral killers like cigarette smoking, and even war.

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Reports

Is China Winning its War on Pollution?

July 2020

For almost two decades, China remained one of the top five most polluted countries in the world. But after launching a successful “war against pollution” in 2014, China was able to reduce its particulate pollution by about 40 percent—dropping the country from its top five ranking in recent years. In fact, from 2013 to 2018, almost threequarters of the global reduction in particulate pollution came from China. If the reductions are sustained, China’s people can expect to live some 2 years longer. The Beijing- Tianjin-Hebei area, one of China’s most polluted areas in 2013, saw a 41 percent reduction in particulate pollution, translating to a gain of 3.4 years of life expectancy for its 108 million residents, if sustained.

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Fact Sheets

Indonesia Fact Sheet

July 2020

Indonesia is today the world’s ninth most polluted country. Air pollution shortens the average Indonesian’s life expectancy by 2 years, relative to what it would have been if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline was met. Some areas of Indonesia fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by more than 7 years in the most polluted region.

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North India Fact Sheet

October 2019

More than 480 million people, or about 40 percent of India’s population, reside in the seven states and union territories comprising the bulk of the Indo-Gangetic Plain region of north India – Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal (Figure 1). Though the Indo-Gangetic Plain’s particulate pollution is exacerbated by geologic and meteorological factors, the AQLI’s dust- and sea salt-removed fine particulate matter (PM2.5) data imply that human activity plays a key role in generating the severe particulate pollution that these residents face. That is likely due to the fact that the region’s population density is more than three times that of the rest of the country, meaning more pollution from vehicular, residential, and agricultural sources. A denser population also means more human lives are impacted by each pollution source. Across India, reducing particulate pollution to the World Health Organization’s guideline of 10 μg/m3 would increase the national average life expectancy by 4.3 years. In north India, there would be outsize impacts of policy that reduces air pollution to meet Indian or International norms.

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Reports

India’s ‘War Against Pollution’: An Opportunity for Longer Lives”

January 2019

In 2019, India declared a “war against pollution” and launched its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), signaling its desire to reduce particulate air pollution—the greatest threat to human health on the planet. The Programme, which aims to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30 percent nationally, will be implemented over the next five years. If successful in meeting its goals and sustaining the reduced pollution levels, the NCAP would produce substantial benefits, extending the life expectancy of the average Indian by about 1.3 years. People breathing the most polluted air—namely those in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh—could live up to 3 years longer. Further, the NCAP highlighted 102 cities containing about one quarter of the country’s population that fell short of India’s air standards. If all the cities permanently reduced particulate pollution by 25 percent (the midpoint of NCAP’s goal), their residents would gain 1.4 years. Though achieving the NCAP’s goals would be an important step toward reversing India’s 69 percent increase in fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) concentrations since 1998, India could achieve further gains in life expectancy for its citizens through additional pollution reductions that bring the country into compliance with its own official air quality standards or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines for PM2.5 concentrations.

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Reports

Introducing the Air Quality Life Index

November 2018

The Air Quality Life Index, or AQLI, represents a completely novel advancement in measuring and communicating the health risks posed by particulate matter air pollution. This is because the AQLI converts particulate air pollution into perhaps the most important metric that exists: its impact on life expectancy. The AQLI reveals that, averaged across all women, men, and children globally, particulate matter air pollution cuts global life expectancy short by nearly 2 years relative to what they would be if particulate concentrations everywhere were at the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO). This life expectancy loss makes particulate pollution more devastating than communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, behavioral killers like cigarette smoking, and even war.

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