Half Of The World’s Population Unaware Of Accurate Air Pollution Figures: Report

A report by an international NGO, Open Act, has revealed large-scale disparities in the availability of air quality information around the world. According to the report, half of the world’s population is unaware of the actual data of air pollution. The report titled, Open Air Quality Data: The Global State of Play’, is supported by scientists from NASA. Examined in 212 countries using the OpenAQ system, the data revealed a huge global inequality in access to information about air quality. The 13 most populous countries produce real-time air quality data but not in a fully open manner at a national-level, it added. As a result, people living in that country do not know what the quality of air in their area is.

At the same time, data availability is also shady between developed and developing countries. People living in developing countries are still unaware of these figures. The countries where the data is available is in so much variation that it is difficult to analyse because of which measures being taken to improve air quality are not successful. India is also one of those countries.

Combining NASA’s satellite data of air pollution with OpenAQ’s system has the potential to bring air quality information to everyone in the world. Due to lack of information, people are unable to demand the necessary action to deal with the biggest environmental threat to health. Around 42 million people die every year due to external air pollution. This number is more than the total deaths (27 lakh) from HIV, AIDS, Ebola, TB and malaria.

Significantly, the World Health Organization stated air pollution as the biggest environmental hazard to health. 90% of the world’s population is forced to breathe in contaminated air. Every year, external air pollution leads to 42 lakhs deaths and nearly 90% of the deaths occur in poor and middle-class countries. When combined with the statistics of deaths from outdoor and indoor air pollution, it causes about 88 lakh deaths every year. This results in the decline of physical health as well as mental health, resulting in increasing cases of violence, depression and suicide.

The study analysed PM 2.5 data from more than 11,000 air quality monitoring stations located in 93 countries. Particles of air pollutants that are smaller than 2.5 micrometres (also known as PM 2.5) are responsible for diseases like heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and diabetes. According to the research, in countries where there are more monitoring stations, the level of air pollution is less.

As per the research, it is believed that 100 million people are affected because the governments of 13 countries, including Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya don’t reveal air quality data. At the same time, the governments of 30 countries including India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Japan, the Philippines and South Africa collect real-time data on air quality but they do not provide complete information with transparency.

This report calls on governments and policymakers from around the world to use financial support from abroad to clean the air and transparency of data. The report states that various governments and organizations that are pursuing air quality programs must ensure that the investment they are making actually promotes transparency and openness of data. If this work gets done according to the scope outlined in this report, it would open all possibilities related to the use of data, which would result in improved air quality.