Though global pollution was slightly lower in 2022, its burden on life expectancy remains, according to new data from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), a tool by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). National standards are an important tool to set strong policies and improve air quality. These standards—some strong and some weak—reflect multiple policy goals countries have as they balance economic, environmental, and health goals.
While 37 out of 94 countries’ standards not meeting, more than half of all countries and territories have not set a standard at all. Together, 77 per cent of countries and territories worldwide have either not met or do not have a national standard.
However, a third of the world’s population lives in regions that don’t meet the standards that their countries have set. If those countries did meet their benchmarks, these 3 billion people would live an average of 1.2 years longer, according to AQLI analysis.
This data makes clear that particulate pollution is the world’s greatest external risk to human health. Its impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than 4 times that of high alcohol use, more than 5 times that of transport injuries like car crashes, and more than 6 times that of HIV/AIDS.
“While air pollution remains a global problem, its largest impacts are concentrated in a relatively small number of countries—cutting lives short several years in some places and even more than 6 years in some regions,” says Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and creator of the AQLI. Global pollution declined in 2022 due almost entirely to a trend reversal in South Asia. While pollution had been on the rise for more than a decade, it declined by 18% in one year.
“While it’s difficult to know for sure the reasons for this decline, meteorological causes—such as above-normal rainfall—likely played a strong role and only time will tell whether policy changes are having an impact. Even with the decline, the region remains the most polluted in the world, accounting for 45 per cent of total life years lost due to high pollution,” noted the analysis.