Global Air Pollution Ranked By Country
Tyler Durden's Photo
BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, MAR 11, 2023 - 11:00 PM
Global air pollution declined by 31% during the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, demonstrating a link between economic activity and air quality.
As Visual Capitalist's Jenna Ross details below, this graphic from The Hinrich Foundation, the fourth in a five-part series on the sustainability of trade, explores how air pollution varies by economy. It pulls data from the 2022 Sustainable Trade Index, which The Hinrich Foundation produced in collaboration with the IMD World Competitiveness Center.
What is Air Pollution?
In this dataset, air pollution is measured using fine particulate matter known as PM2.5. These particles are less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which is about 28 times smaller than the diameter of human hair. They are made up of things like combustion particles, compounds, and metals.
Not only does their presence cause the air to become hazy, they also pose the greatest health risk compared with any other pollutant. When they are inhaled into the lungs, they can cause respiratory diseases and even death. In fact, air pollution is one of the world’s leading risk factors for death, and is linked to 12% of deaths globally.
A Geographic Breakdown of Pollution
Air pollution levels have a wide spectrum around the world. Countries with lower GDP per capita tend to have higher pollution because they have less stringent air quality regulations, congested transportation systems, and rapidly developing industrial sectors. They also prioritize basic necessities such as food and shelter. On the other hand, high income economies can afford cleanup technologies such as filters that trap airborne particles.
The following table shows how air pollution breaks down for select economies that are covered in the 2022 Sustainable Trade Index. Numbers indicate micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter, with higher numbers indicating more pollution.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/global-air-pollution-ranked-country
