Approximately 99.82% of the Earth’s land area has levels of pollutants – suspended particles PM2.5 – in the air above the safe levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). And only 0.001% of the world’s population can breathe air where the level of such pollutants is considered safe. This conclusion was made by Australian and Chinese scientists after conducting a study of the daily concentration of PM2.5. Research published in magazine The Lancet.
Particulate matter PM2.5 is found in the air that people breathe. These are mainly emissions from the combustion of gasoline, diesel fuel, wood, oil, soot particles, rubber, asphalt. Their size does not exceed 2.5 microns, which is why they are constantly in the air, and can only settle on the ground with rain. Such particles easily penetrate into the deep parts of the lungs, settle and accumulate there, and cause serious diseases leading to death. It is estimated that 6.7 million people die each year due to air pollution. And two-thirds of that number is caused by airborne particles, including PM2.5.
The authors of the study analyzed data on the level of air pollution, which are collected by more than 5 thousand tracking stations in different regions of the world. They also used meteorological data, geographic factors and computer modeling techniques to calculate the daily concentration of PM2.5 on a global scale. According to WHO recommendations, the daily concentration of PM2.5 should not exceed 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air. But as a study by Australian and Chinese scientists showed, in the world in 2019, more than 70% of the days of the daily concentration of PM2.5 exceeded this level.
Particularly significant excesses of suspended particles in the air were detected in regions of Asia, where for more than 90% of the days the concentration of PM2.5 was above the level of 15 µg. In particular, in East Asia, the concentration was 50 micrograms per cubic meter, in South Asia – 37 micrograms, in northern Africa – 30 micrograms. Scientists have found the lowest daily PM2.5 concentration in Australia, New Zealand, Oceania and South America.
