Only seven countries meet an international standard quality του αέρα, με τη θανατηφόρα ατμοσφαιρική ρύπανση να επιδεινώνεται κατά τόπους λόγω της ανάκαμψης της οικονομικής δραστηριότητας και των τοξικών επιπτώσεων του καπνού των δασικών πυρκαγιών, σύμφωνα με μια νέα report.
Of 134 countries and territories surveyed in the report, only seven – Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand – meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) guideline limit for fine particulate matter particles emitted by cars and industrial processes.
The vast majority of countries do not meet this standard for PM2.5, a type of tiny speck of soot smaller than the width of a human hair that when inhaled can cause a lot of problems healthand deaths, according to the report by IQAir, a Swiss air quality organization that draws data from more than 30.000 monitoring stations around the world.
Although the world's air is generally much cleaner than it was during most of the last century, there are still places where pollution levels are particularly dangerous.
The most polluted country, Pakistan, has PM2,5 levels more than 14 times higher than WHO standards, according to the IQAir report, with India, Tajikistan and Burkina Faso in the next most polluted countries.
But even in rich and rapidly developing countries, limiting air pollution is not enough. Canada, long considered to have the cleanest air in the Western world, became the worst for PM2,5 last year due to record wildfires that ravaged the country, spewing toxic radiation across the country and into USA.
In China, meanwhile, improvements in air quality slowed last year as economic activity rebounded in the wake of the pandemic Covid-19, with the report finding a 6,5% increase in PM2,5 levels.
The world's most polluted urban area last year was Begusarai in India, according to IQAir's sixth annual report, with India home to the world's four most polluted cities.
However, much of the developing world, particularly African countries, lacks reliable air quality measurements.
The WHO lowered its guideline for "safe" levels of PM2,5 in 2021 to five micrograms per cubic meter. But even this strictest guideline may not fully cover the danger of insidious air pollution. Research released by US scientists last month found that there is no safe level for PM2,5, as even the smallest exposures are linked to increased hospitalizations for heart disease and asthma.
