Almost the entire global population, or 99 percent, breathes air that exceeds air quality limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. health agency warned in a statement.
Even though a record number of more than 6,000 cities in 117 countries now monitor air quality, people in those cities still breathe in dangerous levels of fine particles and nitrogen dioxide, with people in low- and middle-income countries suffering the highest exposures, the WHO statement said.
"The bad news is that when we look at that, all of these data, still what the data is telling us, that a big, big proportion, almost 100 percent of the global population, is still breathing air that exceeds the standards recommended by the World Health Organization," said Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health under the WHO, at a press conference.
Released in the lead-up to the World Health Day, the 2022 update of the WHO's air quality database introduces, for the first time, ground measurements of annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a common urban pollutant and precursor of particulate matter and ozone. It also includes measurements of particulate matter PM10 or PM2.5. Both groups of pollutants originate mainly from human activities related to fossil fuel combustion.
The new air quality database is the most extensive yet in its coverage of air pollution exposure on the ground. Some 2,000 more cities and human settlements are now recording ground monitoring data for particulate matter, PM10 or PM2.5, than the last update. This marks an almost 6-fold rise in reporting since the database was launched in 2011.
The findings have prompted the WHO to call for a reduction in fossil fuel use and the adoption of other concrete measures to lower air pollution levels.
