Air pollution threatens the health of 3.1 million people across 12 regions in Albania. The average PM2.5 level is 10.7 ”g/mÂłâ2.1Ă higher than the WHO guideline.
Brought to you by Amrit Sharma
Albania faces significant air pollution challenges. 100% of states exceed the WHO guideline for clean air. This is putting 3.1 million across 12 states at risk.
The average PM2.5 over 2023 was 10.7”g/m³. That's 2.1 times the WHO guideline for clean air of 5”g/m³.
This is equivalent of everybody, including children, smoking about 178 cigarettes in a year.
Every person in Albania is losing 0.55 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 Albania, 1.7M years of life hang in the balance. That's the collective future being taken from 3.1 million peopleâsimply by breathing.
The top 10 most polluted regions in Albania 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.