State of Global Air Pollution 2018

The State of Global Air report brings into one place the most recent information available on levels and trends in air quality and health for countries around the globe. This year we focus not only on ambient (outdoor) air pollution but also, for the first time, on household air pollution from the burning of solid fuels for cooking and heating, a major contributor to pollution both inside and outside the home. 

Air pollution is a complex mixture of gases and particles whose sources and composition vary spatially and temporally. While hundreds of different chemical compounds can be measured in air, governments typically measure only a small subset of gases and particles as indicators of the different types of air pollution and the different types of major sources contributing to the pollution. PM2.5 and tropospheric ozone (i.e., ozone found in the atmosphere nearest the earth, where we live and breathe) are the two indicators used to quantify exposure to outdoor, or ambient, air pollution in the GBD project.

Around the world, ambient levels of PM2.5 continue to exceed the Air Quality Guideline established by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO set the Air Quality Guideline for annual average PM2.5 concentration at 10 μg/m3 based on evidence of health effects of long-term exposure to PM2.5 but acknowledged that it could not rule out health effects below that level. For regions of the world where air pollution is highest, WHO suggested three interim targets set at progressively lower concentrations: 35 μg/m3, 25 μg/m3, and 15 μg/m3.

CONCLUSIONS: [Download PDF of This Report ##fa-file-pdf-o##]

The GBD project has played a key role in identifying the factors that contribute the most to disease and premature mortality — the first step toward determining what can be done to improve public health. Among the 84 risk factors included in its comprehensive analysis, the GBD project reported that ambient air pollution from PM2.5 ranked 6th globally in its contribution to mortality in 2016, accounting for 4.1 million deaths. Household air pollution was ranked 8th globally, responsible for 2.6 million deaths. Air pollution from ambient PM2.5, ozone, and household burning of solid fuels combined was the 4th-highest global risk factor, accounting for 6.1 million deaths — 11% of the global total. The GBD analysis has also laid out the critical interplay between the trends in population structure, underlying disease, and economic factors and the trends in air pollution levels. Knowledge of these trends is essential to understanding patterns in the burden of disease experienced by different countries and regions and to helping to inform decision makers where policy action to reduce population exposure at the national or regional levels has the most potential to provide large benefits in improved health. Ultimately, reduction in air pollution and its burden on health requires identifying and taking action to control the major sources that contribute to them. Actions to reduce air pollution should address not only the larger-scale burning of coal by power plants and industries, but also the use of coal or different forms of biomass for heating and cooking in millions of small households around the world.

Read This Article in Urdu  [Download PDF of This Report ##fa-file-pdf-o##]

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