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Global air pollution exposure and poverty - PubMed

  • ️Sun Jan 01 2023

Global air pollution exposure and poverty

Jun Rentschler et al. Nat Commun. 2023.

Abstract

Air pollution is one of the leading causes of health complications and mortality worldwide, especially affecting lower-income groups, who tend to be more exposed and vulnerable. This study documents the relationship between ambient air pollution exposure and poverty in 211 countries and territories. Using the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2021 revised fine particulate matter (PM2.5) thresholds, we show that globally, 7.3 billion people are directly exposed to unsafe average annual PM2.5 concentrations, 80 percent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, 716 million of the world's lowest income people (living on less than $1.90 per day) live in areas with unsafe levels of air pollution, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Air pollution levels are particularly high in lower-middle-income countries, where economies tend to rely more heavily on polluting industries and technologies. These findings are based on high-resolution air pollution and population maps with global coverage, as well as subnational poverty estimates based on harmonized household surveys.

© 2023. The Author(s).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Global population exposure to unsafe air pollution, by region and risk level.

a Global population headcounts exposed to different levels of air pollution risk. b Number of people and share of population exposed to air pollution, by region. c Top ten countries with highest population exposure to unsafe PM2.5 levels. Hazard categories are defined based on estimated average annual PM2.5 concentration levels. “Unsafe” refers to PM2.5 concentrations over 5 μg/m3. “Hazardous” refers to PM2.5 concentrations over 35 μg/m3.

Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Exposure to unsafe average annual PM2.5 concentrations as a share of the population.

a Percentage of the population exposed to PM2.5 over 5 μg/m. b Percentage of population exposed to PM2.5 over 15 μg/m3. c Percentage of population exposed to PM2.5 over 35 μg/m3.

Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Air pollution exposure of people in poverty.

a Number of people living in poverty and facing unsafe air pollution exposure, at different poverty thresholds and by region. b Top ten countries—percentage of people living on $1.90/day and exposed to hazardous PM2.5 levels. c Health care access and quality in countries with high air pollution and poverty. The Healthcare Access & Quality (HAQ) index is by GBD 2019 Healthcare Access and Quality Collaborators (2022)–.

Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Regional distribution of air pollution and poverty.

a Share of the population exposed to unsafe PM2.5 levels and living on less than $1.90/day. b Share of the population exposed to unsafe PM2.5 levels and living on less than $3.20/day. c Share of the population exposed to unsafe PM2.5 levels and living on less than $5.50/day.

Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Global population exposure to PM2.5 concentrations.

a Over 5 μg/m3 (4% increased mortality rate). b Over 10 μg/m3 (8% increased mortality rate). c Over 35 μg/m3 (>24% increased mortality rate). d Regional distribution of mean PM2.5 concentrations. Concentration thresholds and estimated mortality rates are based on the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines, which provide details on estimation methods. LIC are low-income countries, LMIC are lower-middle-income countries, UMIC are upper-middle-income countries, HIC are high-income countries.

Fig. 6
Fig. 6. PM2.5 concentrations in Southeast Asia.

Estimates represent annual average concentrations in 2018, constructed based on satellite-based remote sensing data, global chemical transport modeling, and ground measurements. (Source: data by van Donkelaar et al. 2021).

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