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Air Pollution
Our overview of indoor and outdoor air pollu1on.

By Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser

This ar(cle was first published in October 2017 and last revised in February 2024.

Contents

Air pollu1on is one of the world's largest health and environmental problems. It
develops in two contexts: indoor (household) air pollu1on and outdoor air
pollu1on.

In this topic page, we look at the aggregate picture of air pollu1on – both indoor
and outdoor. We also have dedicated topic pages that look in more depth at
these subjects:

Indoor Air Pollution

Look in detail at the data and research on the health impacts of Indoor Air Pollu7on, a9ributed
deaths, and its causes across the world

Outdoor Air Pollution

Look in detail at the data and research on exposure to Outdoor Air Pollu7on, its health impacts, and
a9ributed deaths across the world

Energy
Look in detail at the data and research on energy consump7on, its impacts around the world today,
and how this has changed over 7me

See all interac+ve charts on Air Pollu+on ↓

Other research and wri1ng on air pollu1on on Our World in Data:

Air pollu1on: does it get worse before it gets beKer?

Data Review: How many people die from air pollu1on?

Energy poverty and indoor air pollu1on: a problem as old as humanity that we
can end within our life1me

How many people do not have access to clean fuels for cooking?

What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?

What the history of London’s air pollu1on can tell us about the future of
today’s growing megaci1es

When will countries phase out coal power?

Air pollution is one of the world's

leading risk factors for death
Air pollution is responsible for millions of
deaths each year
Air pollu1on – the combina1on of outdoor and indoor par1culate maKer and
ozone – is a risk factor for many of the leading causes of death, including heart
disease, stroke, lower respiratory infec1ons, lung cancer, diabetes, and chronic
obstruc1ve pulmonary disease (COPD).

The Ins1tute for Health Metrics and Evalua1on (IHME), in its Global Burden of
Disease study, provides es1mates of the number of deaths aKributed to the range
of risk factors for disease.¹

In the visualiza1on, we see the number of deaths per year aKributed to each risk
factor. This chart shows the global total but can be explored for any country or
region using the "change country" toggle.

Air pollu1on is one of the leading risk factors for death. In low-income countries,
it is oWen very near the top of the list (or is the leading risk factor).

Deaths by risk factor, World, 2019

The es1mated annual number of deaths aKributed to each risk factor. Es1mates come with wide
uncertain1es, especially for countries with poor vital registra1on.

Table Chart Change country or region

High blood pressure 10.85 million

Smoking 7.69 million
Air pollu+on (outdoor & indoor) 6.67 million
High blood sugar 6.5 million
Obesity 5.02 million
High cholesterol 4.4 million
Outdoor par+culate maGer pollu+on 4.14 million
Alcohol use 2.44 million
Indoor air pollu+on 2.31 million
Diet high in sodium 1.89 million
Diet low in whole grains 1.84 million
Low birth weight 1.7 million
Secondhand smoke 1.3 million
Unsafe water source 1.23 million
Diet low in fruits 1.05 million
Child was+ng 993,046
Unsafe sex 984,366
Low physical ac+vity 831,502
Unsafe sanita+on 756,585
No access to handwashing facility 627,919
Diet low in nuts and seeds 575,139
Diet low in vegetables 529,381
Drug use 494,492
Low bone mineral density 437,884
Child stun+ng 164,237
Non-exclusive breasNeeding 139,732
Iron deficiency 42,349
Vitamin A deficiency 23,850

1990 2019

Data source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease (2019) – Learn more about this data
Note: Risk factors are not mutually exclusive. The sum of deaths aKributed to each risk factor can
exceed the total number of deaths.
OurWorldInData.org/causes-of-death | CC BY

Air pollution contributes to one in ten deaths globally

In recent years, air pollu1on has contributed to one in ten deaths globally.²

In the map shown here, we see the share of deaths aKributed to air pollu1on
across the world.

Share of deaths attributed to air pollution, 2019

Share of deaths, from any cause, which are aKributed to air pollu1on – from outdoor and indoor
sources – as a risk factor.

Table Map Chart World

No data 0% 3% 6% 9% 12% 15% 18%

1990 2019

Data source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease (2019) – Learn more about this data
OurWorldInData.org/air-pollu1on | CC BY

Air pollution is one of the leading

risk factors for disease burden
Air pollu1on is one of the leading risk factors for death. But its impacts go even
further; it is also one of the main contributors to the global disease burden.

Global disease burden takes into account not only years of life lost to early death
but also the number of years lived in poor health.

In the visualiza1on, we see risk factors ranked in order of DALYs – disability-

adjusted life years – the metric used to assess disease burden. Again, air pollu1on
is near the top of the list, making it one of the leading risk factors for poor health
across the world.

Air pollu1on not only takes years from people's lives but also has a large effect
on the quality of life while they're s1ll living.

Disease burden by risk factor, World, 2019

Disease burden is measured as Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). One DALY is the equivalent
of losing one year in good health because of either premature mortality or disability. One DALY
represents one lost year of healthy life.

Table Chart Change country or region

High blood pressure 235.42 million

Air pollu+on (outdoor & indoor) 213.28 million
Smoking 199.79 million
High blood sugar 172.07 million
Obesity 160.27 million
Outdoor par+culate maGer pollu+on 118.22 million
High cholesterol 98.62 million
Indoor air pollu+on 91.47 million
Child was+ng 83.53 million
Unsafe water source 65.1 million
Diet high in salt 44.87 million
Unsafe sanita+ons 41.41 million
Secondhand smoke 37 million
Iron deficiency 31.26 million
Drug use 30.93 million
Diet low in fruits 27.68 million
Low physical ac+vity 15.75 million
Child stun+ng 14.29 million
Diet low in vegetables 12.95 million
Non-exclusive breasNeeding 12.53 million
Vitamin A deficiency 3.3 million
Zinc deficiency 258,813

1990 2019

Data source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease (2019) – Learn more about this data
OurWorldInData.org/burden-of-disease | CC BY

Who is most a:ected by air

pollution?
Death rates from air pollution are highest
in low-to-middle-income countries
Air pollu1on is a health and environmental issue across all countries of the world
but with large differences in severity.

In the interac1ve map, we show death rates from air pollu1on across the world,
measured as the number of deaths per 100,000 people in a given country or
region.

The burden of air pollu1on tends to be greater across both low and middle-
income countries for two reasons: indoor pollu1on rates tend to be high in low-
income countries due to a reliance on solid fuels for cooking, and outdoor air
pollu1on tends to increase as countries industrialize and shiW from low to middle
incomes.

A map of the number of deaths from air pollu1on by country can be found here.

How are death rates from air

pollution changing?
Death rates from air pollution are falling –
mainly due to improvements in indoor
pollution
In the visualiza1on, we show global death rates from air pollu1on over 1me –
shown as the total air pollu1on – in addi1on to the individual contribu1ons from
outdoor and indoor pollu1on.

Globally, we see that in recent decades, the death rates from total air pollu1on
have declined: since 1990, death rates have nearly halved. But, as we see from
the breakdown, this decline has been primarily driven by improvements in indoor
air pollu1on.

Death rates from indoor air pollu1on have seen an impressive decline, while
improvements in outdoor pollu1on have been much more modest.

You can explore this data for any country or region using the "change country"
toggle on the interac1ve chart.

Interactive charts on air pollution

Absolute number of deaths from Air pollutant emissions Air pollu1on Air pollu1on deaths
ambient par1culate air pollu1on fuels

Chart 1 of 37

ENDNOTES

1. Murray, C. J., Aravkin, A. Y., Zheng, P.,
Abbafa7, C., Abbas, K. M., Abbasi-
Kangevari, M., ... & Borzouei, S. (2020).
Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204
countries and territories, 1990–2019: a
systema7c analysis for the Global Burden of
Disease Study 2019. The
Lancet, 396(10258), 1223-1249.
2. Here, we use the term 'contributes,'
meaning it was one of the a9ributed risk
factors for a given disease or cause of
death. There can be mul7ple risk factors for
a given disease that can amplify one
another. This means that in some cases, air
pollu7on was not the only risk factor but
one of several.

Cite this work

Our ar7cles and data visualiza7ons rely on work from many different people and organiza7ons. When
ci7ng this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This topic page can be cited as:

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2021) - “Air Pollution”

Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from:
'https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution' [Online Resource]

BibTeX cita7on

@article{owid-air-pollution,
author = {Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser},
title = {Air Pollution},
journal = {Our World in Data},
year = {2021},
note = {https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution}
}

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