Ambient air pollution: A global assessment of exposure and burden of disease
Overview
This report presents a summary of methods
and results of the latest World Health Organization (WHO) global assessment of ambient
air pollution exposure and the resulting burden
of disease.
Air pollution has become a growing concern in
the past few years, with an increasing number
of acute air pollution episodes in many cities
worldwide. As a result, data on air quality is
becoming increasingly available and the
science underlying the related health impacts is
also evolving rapidly.
To date, air pollution – both ambient (outdoor)
and household (indoor) – is the biggest environmental risk to health, carrying responsibility
for about one in every nine deaths annually.
Ambient (outdoor) air pollution alone kills
around 3 million people each year, mainly from
noncommunicable diseases. Only one person
in ten lives in a city that complies with the WHO
Air quality guidelines. Air pollution continues
to rise at an alarming rate, and affects economies and people’s quality of life; it is a public
health emergency.