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Eighty percent of urban people suffer from dangerous particulate matter pollution
More than 80 percent of the world's people live in cities whose air pollution has reached dangerous levels. Researchers at WHO found that around three million people die prematurely each year because of exposure to heavy air pollution.
More and more people around the world are living in fast-growing cities. It is not surprising that air pollution continues to increase in such areas. Researchers from the World Health Organization WHO have now found in an investigation that several million people die each year from the effects of polluted air. Air pollution is particularly high in middle- or low-income countries. The scientists published the results of their study in a press release.
At the present time, pollution is steadily increasing. For example, air pollution is a big problem for urban residents. Pollution levels are often high enough to pose a threat to our health that costs millions of lives annually. (Image: Ralf Geithe / fotolia.com) In poorer countries, 90 percent of city dwellers suffer from air pollution
Pollution affects us all. So it is with the air pollution. Especially people in cities often have to live with the negative effects of polluted air. Particularly bad is the air pollution in poorer countries. There is a strong gap between rich and poor, researchers say. In high-income countries, only 56 percent of urban people are affected by air pollution. In low-income and middle-income countries, on the other hand, as many as 98 percent of urban residents suffer from the effects of polluted air, the experts add. The average level of air pollution worldwide increased by about 8 percent between 2008 and 2013. However, in most rich countries, the condition of the air has improved somewhat over the same period, the researchers explain.
What does PM10 and PM2.5 mean?
The highest levels of particulate matter pollution were found in the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. There, values often exceed safe limits by more than five to ten times, scientists say. In general, fine dust is divided into two groups. PM10 is inhalable particulate matter and PM2.5 refers to so-called respirable particulate matter. The number always refers to the aerodynamic diameter. PM10 means, for example, that the particles have a diameter smaller than ten microns.
Zabol in Iran has the highest particulate matter pollution (PM10) in the world
The WHO warned that air pollution in the UK is already devastating to human health. Cities in other European countries, such as Paris, have introduced once a month a day when no cars are allowed in the city to reduce particulate pollution, say the experts. The city with the highest measured particulate matter in the world is Zabol in Iran. Followed by Gwalior and Allahabad in India as well as Riyadh and Al-Jubail in Saudi Arabia, the doctors add. However, the problems in Zabol are largely a natural phenomenon. Every summer raging so-called dust storms, which are also referred to as 120-day wind, explain the authors of the WHO. The annual average particulate pollution in the city was about 21 times higher than the recommended level, according to the WHO. The burden of small respirable particles in the air was even 26 times higher than normal, the experts add.
Onitsha in Nigeria has the highest concentration of PM2.5 worldwide
The city with the highest levels of small respirable particles was Onitsha in Nigeria. The city is known for its traffic jams, industry and unregulated landfills, say the authors. There, the peak exposure to so-called respirable particles was 30 times higher than the recommended level. Peshawar was also high on the list in Pakistan, followed by Zabol in Iran, Rawalpindi in Pakistan and Kaduna in Nigeria, the experts explain. But even in the richer countries of the world, air pollution is a serious problem. In Paris, the average amount of small particles was about 40 percent above recommended levels. The amount of fine particles was even 80 percent higher, add the scientists from the WHO. (As)