A new report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has revealed that around 30,000 deaths in the UK will be linked to air pollution in 2025.
Air pollution can cut lives by 1.8 years, which is “just behind some of the leading causes of death and disease worldwide,” such as cancer and smoking, the doctors wrote. The report also revealed that air pollution costs the UK an estimated £27 billion a year in healthcare costs and productivity losses.
The College has urged the Government to take action to tackle the issue, calling for ministers to “recognise air pollution as a key public health issue.”
How does the air pollution level in the UK compare to the rest of the world?
The WHO’s air quality guideline
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established guidelines for safe air pollution levels, based on the quantity of PM2.5 — tiny matter of 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter.
PM2.5 is the most harmful pollutant because it can penetrate the lung barrier and enter the bloodstream, leading to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and cancer.
The particles are particularly dangerous for children, because they breathe more air per unit of body weight than adults and have less effective nasal filtration.
According to WHO, the annual average concentration of PM2.5 should not surpass 5 µg/m3.
The 25 most polluted cities in the world
IQAir, a Swiss company that measures global air quality, has released its 7th annual World Air Quality Report.
It assessed over 40,000 air quality monitoring stations across 8,954 locations in 138 countries in order to track the world’s air pollution in 2024.
Only 17 per cent of cities met the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s air pollution guideline, the report revealed.
The report found that regions in Africa and Central and South Asia had high air pollution levels. The most reported city in the world was New Delhi, India, followed by N’Djamena, Chad and Dakha, Bangladesh.
New Delhi has been the world’s most polluted capital for six years, with a PM2.5 concentration of 91.8.
2024 average PM2.5 concentration (ug/m3) for capital cities
1. New Delhi, India, 91.8
2. N’Djamena, Chad, 91.6
3. Dakha, Bangladesh, 78.0
4. Kinshasa, D.R. Congo, 58.2
5. Islamabad, Pakistan, 52.4
6. Dushanbe, Tajikstan, 46.3
7. Hanoi, Vietnam, 45.4
8. Kathmandu, Nepal, 45.1
9. Abuja, Nigeria, 42.2
10. Jakarta, Indonesia, 41.7
11. Kampala, Uganda, 41.0
12. Kigali, Rwanda, 40.8
13. Baghdad, Iraq, 40.5
14. Cairo, Egypt, 39.9
15. Yaounde, Cameroon, 36.3
16. Accra, Ghana, 36.3
17. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 32.0
18. Manama, Bahrain, 31.8
19. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 31.4
20. Doha, Qatar, 31.3
21. Beijing, China, 30.9
22. Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, 30.8
23. Kuwait City, Kuwait, 30.2
24. Vientiane, Laos, 27.5
25. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 26.5
The report found that only 12 countries or territories recorded PM2.5 concentrations that fell below the WHO’s guideline. Most were located in Latin America and Caribbean or Oceania regions.
Where does London rank?
London ranks 100th on IQAir’s 2024 World Air Quality report, following Paris and Madrid. Luxembourg came in at 101, followed by Washington D.C, at 102.
London’s average PM2.5 concentration was 7.8, which is above WHO’s guidelines for a safe level of air pollution.
In the Royal College of Physicians (RCP)’s report, England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, said: “Air pollution remains the most important environmental threat to health, with impacts throughout the life course.
“It is an area of health where the UK has made substantial progress in the last three decades with concentrations of many of the main pollutants falling rapidly, but it remains a major cause of chronic ill health as well as premature mortality.
“Further progress in outdoor air pollution will occur if we decide to make it, but will not happen without practical and achievable changes to heating, transport and industry in particular.
“Air pollution affects everybody, and is everybody’s business.”
