Air pollution threatens the health of 20.2 million people across 10 regions in Zambia. The average PM2.5 level is 25.2 Āµg/mĀ³ā5.0Ć higher than the WHO guideline.
Brought to you by Amrit Sharma
Zambia faces significant air pollution challenges. 100% of states exceed the WHO guideline for clean air. This is putting 20.2 million across 10 states at risk.
The average PM2.5 over 2023 was 25.2Āµg/mĀ³. That's 5.0 times the WHO guideline for clean air of 5Āµg/mĀ³.
This is equivalent of everybody, including children, smoking about 418 cigarettes in a year.
Every person in Zambia is losing 1.98 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 Zambia, 40.0M years of life hang in the balance. That's the collective future being taken from 20.2 million peopleāsimply by breathing.
The top 10 most polluted regions in Zambia 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.