10%

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE

The staggering, true cost of air pollution

September 6^th, 2022

“You can smell and taste the pollution the moment you walk out of the door. Even on a clear day there’s this poisonous tang in the air. You know it’s damaging your health and your children’s health, but you feel helpless to do anything about it. Every winter it just gets worse.” - Jasminka Markovska, mother of three, Skopje.

A haze of pollution in Skopje, North Macedonia. ©UNDP/Sumaya Agha

Sometimes you can see it, and sometimes you can’t, but air pollution is a major global health hazard that affects almost everybody alive today, and kills seven million people a year.

Just like the residents of Skopje, one of the most polluted cities in Europe, nine out of 10 people are breathing air that the World Health Organization (WHO) says is unsafe—that’s more than 6.76 billion people.

Low and middle-income countries bear the brunt of pollution, but nobody is safe; air pollution knows no borders.

It is linked to an estimated 15 percent of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hazy Skopje, one of the most polluted cities in Europe. ©UNDP/Sumaya Agha

Hazy Skopje, one of the most polluted cities in Europe. ©UNDP North Macedonia

What is air pollution?

Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons and lead—all are literally taking breath from our bodies. And even when it doesn’t kill, air pollution shortens the average life by two years.

Invisible airborne particles known as particulates are the most dangerous. They can be made of soot, sulphates, lead or black carbon. And the tinier they are, the deadlier. Microscopic particulates with a diametre of less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) are absorbed directly into the brain, lungs and bloodstream, causing lung cancer, strokes, heart disease and diabetes.

Air pollution can also lower your I.Q. and increase the risk of dementia and miscarriage. And it’s a leading cause of asthma in children. A recent Lancet study estimates that four million children develop asthma every year—that’s 11,000 new cases every day.

Where does it come from?

Our industrial lifestyle is the source of most ambient pollution. We produce poisonous chemicals when we burn coal to generate electricity and when we travel in petrol or diesel-powered vehicles.

Chemical, mining and agricultural industries also produce air pollution, as do landfills. Fires, deforestation, changing weather patterns and natural phenomena such as sandstorms and volcanic eruptions are also contributing to poor air quality in some places.

Deforestation and landfills produce air pollution, which causes lung cancer, strokes, heart disease, and diabetes. ©UNDP DRC

A landfill in Guatemala. Deforestation and landfills produce air pollution, which causes lung cancer, strokes, heart disease, and diabetes. ©UNDP Guatemala

But indoors is often no safer for families who cook and heating with unsafe fuel. In the developing world, indoor cooking kills almost as many people as ambient pollution.

In Skopje about 30 percent of the city poor air quality comes from wood burning stoves, which residents are forced to use because they’re cheaper than central heating.

While indoor pollution rates have stayed largely the same in recent years, outdoor pollution is rapidly increasing as industries expand, and more people use cars.

What does it cost?

Pollution is a massive drain on economies—the World Bank puts the bill at US$5.7 trillion every year, nearly five percent of GDP.

Poor air quality also damages vegetation and crops, reduces biodiversity, strips soil of its nutrients, speeding up corrosion and adding to the greenhouse effect.

The Taj Mahal silhouette is barely visible through thick smog in Agra, India, one of the most polluted cities in the country. © Shutterstock/ SilvioFasler

Where is it worst?

According to WHO’s Global Ambient Air Quality Database 97 percent of cities in low and middle income countries don’t meet safe standards. In high income countries, about half of all cities of more than 100,000 people have unsafe air. In the most polluted countries pollution is responsible for more than one death in four.

The world’s 50 most polluted cities are in Asia, but most African cities also don’t meet minimum air quality standards.

Find out how clean your city air is.

A man searches through garbage for recyclable material, Amravati, India. ©Dipak Shelare/Shutterstock

What is UNDP doing?

The health and economic costs of pollution have been ignored for decades. We can no longer afford to look the other way.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda call for substantially reducing the number of deaths and illnesses from air pollution. SDG 11 – sustainable cities and communities – recognizes the number of challenges associated with rapid urbanization and the factors that make city dwellers uniquely vulnerable to pollution-related disease.

UNDP works with partners and countries across the world to build healthy futures for everybody.

“Ulaanbaatar has some of the most hazardous air on earth. We don’t just breathe it, we taste it.” - Daniela Gasparikova, UNDP

We are working on a range of programmes in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia to reduce dependency on coal, which has made that city’s atmosphere one of the worst in the world, with air quality 9.2 times above the safe level.

Pollution over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar has one of the most dangerous atmospheres in the world, with air quality 9.2 times above the safe level. ©Katiekk/Shutterstock.com

With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) UNDP began promoting clean energy more than 15 years ago in China. What began as a small pilot project to demonstrate how hydrogen—which when combusted has zero emissions—can power industries and transportation, has spread to several cities.

We have worked with national and local authorities in Skopje, surveying households to find out how low incomes relate to pollution. Nepal’s Yeti airlines, with UNDP help has become carbon neutral through an ambitious emissions reduction plan which will sequester 19,665 tonnes of CO2 from all its vehicles.

“Climate change and energy use in particular is a thread that runs throughout each and every one of the SDGs. Inefficient energy systems lead to poor health conditions or impair access to education or livelihoods, while more efficient and renewable systems help to advance development gains and deliver on climate commitments. Understanding the root causes for pollution will allow us to tackle it more effectively.” – Anita Kodzoman, Head of Energy Efficiency, UNDP

UNDP continues to build on its long history of helping countries transition to clean cooking methods. With WHO, the World Bank, and other partners, we’ve launched the Health and Energy Platform of Action, which focuses first on indoor air pollution.

Clean air and climate change

Combating indoor air pollution is a win-win for advancing the green energy revolution, fighting climate change and raising people out of poverty. Making clean energy available to the 759 million people who don’t even have electricity will advance all the Sustainable Development Goals.

Poorer communities have too often not had the benefit of technology and regulations that have successful track records elsewhere. It’s time to build new partnerships with the public sector and ensure that citizens have the information to hold their governments accountable.

UNDP has committed to supporting a UN-wide effort to provide access to electricity to 500 million people by 2025 working in partnership with UN sister agencies, governments, financial institutions, and private sector.

We must strive for a world where everyone, no matter where they live, can breathe clean air: a world where mothers do not worry about their children playing outdoors or sleeping in smoke-filled homes.

Cleaner air, better health, longer lives, money saved; tackling air pollution will provide real benefits for our planet and for us.

One of UNDP's projects to promote clean energy in China protects the Altai mountains and their wetlands. © UNDP China

Footnotes

Cover photo: ©Katiekk/Shutterstock.com Final photo: One of UNDP’s projects to promote clean energy in China protects the Altai mountains and their wetlands. ©UNDP China

Button Label

FootNotes

Cover photo: ©Katiekk/Shutterstock.com Final photo: One of UNDP’s projects to promote clean energy in China protects the Altai mountains and their wetlands. ©UNDP China

À la recherche d’un équilibre

Start publishing stories like this

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE

The staggering, true cost of air pollution

FootNotes

Trois communautés côtières mexicaines œuvrent en faveur d’un tourisme durable et communautaire

Un recorrido por tres costas mexicanas que avanzan hacia un turismo sostenible y comunitario

Tour three Mexican coastal communities working towards sustainable, community-based tourism

Tras casi tres años de guerra, el pueblo del Sudán sigue con la esperanza de reconstruir su vida

À bientôt 3 ans de guerre, le peuple soudanais a hâte de se reconstruire

As the war approaches the 3-year mark, Sudan's people can't wait to rebuild their lives