Air pollution threatens the health of 14.2 million people across 12 regions in Benin. The average PM2.5 level is 16.4 ”g/mÂłâ3.3Ă higher than the WHO guideline.
Brought to you by Amrit Sharma
Benin faces significant air pollution challenges. 100% of states exceed the WHO guideline for clean air. This is putting 14.2 million across 12 states at risk.
The average PM2.5 over 2023 was 16.4”g/m³. That's 3.3 times the WHO guideline for clean air of 5”g/m³.
This is equivalent of everybody, including children, smoking about 272 cigarettes in a year.
Every person in Benin is losing 1.11 years of their life to air pollution. This isn't just a statisticâit's grandparents who won't see their grandchildren graduate. Parents missing birthdays. Lives cut short. Breathing kills.
These stolen years come from diseases you knowâCOPD that makes every breath a struggle, lung cancer that turns healthy tissue deadly, heart attacks that strike without warning, strokes that change everything in an instant. Air pollution doesn't just kill. It damages your body from the inside, every single day.
Across Benin, 15.8M years of life hang in the balance. That's the collective future being taken from 14.2 million peopleâsimply by breathing.
The top 10 most polluted regions in Benin by PM2.5 levels. These regions face the greatest health burden from air pollution.
Distribution of population across different PM2.5 pollution levels. The WHO guideline is 5 ”g/mÂłâonly populations below this threshold are breathing safe air.