HEI launches State of Global Air report and website

HEI has launched State of Global Air 2017 — a concise, accessible report and interactive website providing “one-stop shopping” for the latest trends in air quality and its impact on human health around the world. The report and website will be updated each year, highlighting the extent to which air pollution affects public health as well as tracking progress toward cleaner air.

On the interactive website, visitors can explore and compare trends in air quality and health from 1990 to 2015 from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project. For the first time, the website makes available the air quality data sets from the GBD project. It provides both air quality and health data for countries and regions of the world. Graphs, maps, and data tables can be viewed and downloaded for immediate publication or for further exploration.

Ambient air pollution ranked fifth globally in 2015 among all GBD risk factors that contribute to early deaths. It is the leading environmental risk factor, causing more deaths than malaria or HIV/AIDS. In future years, the State of Global Air’s annual update will provide a detailed look at the newest GBD data on exposures of sensitive subpopulations (for example, children and the elderly), as well as new data on indoor or household air pollution from the burning of solid fuels and on additional air pollutants, such as NO₂. The State of Global Air is a collaborative effort among HEI, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and the University of British Columbia. Read the Press Release.