Exposure to PM2.5 in Countries and Regions

Data source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Description:

The underlying PM2.5 concentration estimates are taken from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 project. They are derived by integrating satellite observations, chemical transport models, and measurements from ground monitoring station networks.

The concentration estimates are population-weighted using gridded population datasets from the Joint Research Center Global Human Settlement project. These are produced by distributing census-derived population estimates from the Gridded Population of the World, version 4 from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center according to the density and distribution of built-up areas.

For political and administrative boundaries, OECD (2020) territorial grid units are used where available, for the remaining countries, the FAO (2015) Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL 2014) are used (see below for details). The OECD (2020) Functional Urban Area definition is used for cities.

The accuracy of these exposure estimates varies considerably by location. Accuracy is poorer in areas with few monitoring stations and in areas with very high concentrations such as Africa, the Middle-East and South Asia. Accuracy is generally good in regions with dense monitoring station networks (such as most advanced economies). See Shaddick et al. (2018) for further details.

See Green Growth dataset for further measures of PM exposure.

Last updated by source: 2020-11-01

Dataset type:	Time-Series
Dataset level:	Country

Citation:

When using this dataset, please cite as:

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2020). Exposure to PM2.5 in countries and regions (edition 2018). OECD Environment Statistics. https://doi.org/10.1787/bbb42e4d-en

• Shaddick, G., Thomas, M. L., Amini, H., Broday, D., Cohen, A., Frostad, J., Green, A., Gumy, S., Liu, Y., Martin, R. V., & others. (2018). Data integration for the assessment of population exposure to ambient air pollution for global burden of disease assessment. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(16), 9069–9078.

    @misc{pm1,
 author = {{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)}},
 doi = {10.1787/bbb42e4d-en},
 note = {Date accessed: 13 May 2020},
 publisher = {OECD Environment Statistics},
 title = {Exposure to PM2.5 in countries and regions (Edition 2018)},
 url = {https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/data/oecd-environment-statistics_env-data-en},
 year = {2020}
}

@article{pm2,
 author = {Shaddick, Gavin and Thomas, Matthew L and Amini, Heresh and Broday, David and Cohen, Aaron and Frostad, Joseph and Green, Amelia and Gumy, Sophie and Liu, Yang and Martin, Randall V and others},
 journal = {Environmental Science \& Technology},
 number = {16},
 pages = {9069--9078},
 publisher = {ACS Publications},
 title = {Data integration for the assessment of population exposure to ambient air pollution for global burden of disease assessment},
 volume = {52},
 year = {2018}
}

Variables in this dataset:

Percentage of population exposed to more than 15 μg/m3 of PM2.5

QoG Code: oecd_pm25ex15p

Percentage of population exposed to a fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration greater than 15 micrograms (μg) per cubic meter (m3). The World Health Organization (WHO) provides air quality guidelines based on scientific evidence and expert advice. 15 μg/m3 is interim target-3. In addition to other health benefits, these levels reduce the mortality risk by approximately 6% [2-11%] relative to the IT-2 level (25 μg/m3).

More about this variable

Percentage of population exposed to more than 25 μg/m3 of PM2.5

QoG Code: oecd_pm25ex25p

Percentage of population exposed to a fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration greater than 25 micrograms (μg) per cubic meter (m3). WHO provides air quality guidelines based on scientific evidence and expert advice. 25 μg/m3 is interim target-2: In addition to other health benefits, these levels lower the risk of premature mortality by approximately 6% [2–11%] relative to the IT-1 level (35 μg/m3). Data on exposure to more than 35 μg/m3 is included in the Green Growth dataset.

More about this variable