Ambient air pollution A global assessment of exposure and burden of disease

In the majority of regions of the world, annual
median concentrations of air pollution are
higher than the WHO guideline levels of 10
μg / m 3 (Figures 10 and 11). Exposures are
particularly high in the Eastern Mediterranean,
South-East Asian and Western Pacific Regions.
Air pollution does not exclusively originate from
human activity, and can be greatly influenced
by dust storms, for example, particularly in
areas close to deserts. This is partially illustrated
in Figure 12, where modelled annual median
PM 2.5
concentration by area (rural / urban) is presented
and where rural areas in the African and
Eastern Mediterranean Regions show greater
concentrations than urban ones.
Based on the modelled data, 92 % of the world
population are exposed to PM 2.5
air pollution
concentrations tha are above the annual mean
WHO AQG levels of 10 μg / m 3 (Figure 13). With
the exception of the region of the Americas, all
regions – both HIC and LMIC – have less than
20 % of the population living in places in compliance
with the WHO AQG.
Figure 9 : Global map of modelled annual median concentration of PM 2.5
, in µg / m 3
PM 2.5
: Fine particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less.
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