Air pollution trends in countries and cities
In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 7 million people died - one in eight deaths - due to air pollution exposure. This map shows both national and city-level exposures to fine particulate matter or PM2.5, which is an air pollutant with human health consequences.
City-level data (represented as points in the map) for around 1,600 cities in 91 countries from 2008 to 2013 are provided in the WHO's Ambient Air Pollution database. These values for cities generally represent annual averaged data from a single or multiple air monitoring stations.
The national data (represented by the country shading) are from the 2014 Environmental Performance Index (EPI). Researchers led by Aaron van Donkelaar at Dalhousie University used satellite data to estimate ground-level exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5). These data indicate longer term exposures to PM2.5 and are based on a three-year rolling average of data from 1998 to 2012. Read more about how these data were developed here.
ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDEX (EPI)
The Environmental Performance Index is a biennial global ranking of how well countries perform on high-priority environmental issues. It is a joint project of the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at The Earth Institute, Columbia University.
Created by Pedro Cunha and Dmitry Pavluk using CartoDB
with help from Andrew Hill, Anna Young, and Diego Torres Quintanilla