Tracking air pollution across more than 32,000 cities with new global data Brian BlankespoorSusmita DasguptaDavid Wheeler September 25, 2026 This page in: English

Tracking air pollution across more than 32,000 cities with new global data Brian BlankespoorSusmita DasguptaDavid Wheeler September 25, 2026 This page in: English https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/tracking-air-pollution-across-more-than-32-000-cities-with-new-g Ambient air pollution — driven by emissions from transport, industry, power generation, and biomass burning — is a major source of health damage and economic loss, particularly in developing countries. Evidence from the World Health Organization and global monitoring initiatives such as IQAir shows that rapid urban growth has pushed ambient concentrations of fine particulates (PM₂.₅), ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and carbon monoxide (CO) well beyond recommended guidelines in many regions (WHO 2021; IQAir 2025; Health Effects Institute 2024). Recent global assessments attribute 8.1 million premature deaths and 120 million disability-adjusted life years to air pollution, and approximately US$8.1 trillion in annual economic losses to PM₂.₅ exposure alone (Health Effects Institute 2024; Feng et al. 2025; World Bank 2022). Yet sparse monitoring systems in many countries limit accurate pollution exposure assessment and policy evaluation, highlighting the need for consistent, high-resolution air quality data.