Air pollution threatens the health of 655 thousand people across 4 regions in Western Sahara. The average PM2.5 level is 4.8 Āµg/mĀ³, within the WHO guideline of 5 Āµg/mĀ³.
Brought to you by Amrit Sharma
Western Sahara faces significant air pollution challenges. 25% of states exceed the WHO guideline for clean air. This is putting 655 thousand across 4 states at risk.
The average PM2.5 over 2023 was 4.8Āµg/mĀ³. That's 1.0 times the WHO guideline for clean air of 5Āµg/mĀ³.
This is equivalent of everybody, including children, smoking about 80 cigarettes in a year.
Every person in Western Sahara is losing 0.04 years of their life to air pollution. This isn't just a statisticāit's grandparents who won't see their grandchildren graduate. Parents missing birthdays. Lives cut short. Breathing kills.
These stolen years come from diseases you knowāCOPD 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 Western Sahara, 26K years of life hang in the balance. That's the collective future being taken from 655 thousand peopleāsimply by breathing.
The top 4 most polluted regions in Western Sahara 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 Āµg/mĀ³āonly populations below this threshold are breathing safe air.