PM2.5 stands for particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller. These particles are 30 times thinner than a human hair and come from car exhaust, power plants, wildfires, and burning fuel. They are small enough to bypass your body's natural defenses and enter your bloodstream.

How does air pollution affect the body?

Air pollution affects virtually every organ in the body. PM2.5 particles enter your lungs, pass into your bloodstream, and travel to your heart, brain, kidneys, liver, and other organs. This causes chronic inflammation, increasing risks of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, dementia, and many other conditions.

How many people are affected by air pollution?

99% of the global population breathes air that exceeds WHO safety guidelines. Air pollution kills approximately 8 million people every year—more than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

Russia's Kemerovo Air Pollution Report

Overview

Air Pollution in Kemerovo

Kemerovo faces significant air pollution challenges. 97% of districts exceed the WHO guideline for clean air. This is putting 2.6 million across 34 districts at risk.

The average PM2.5 over 2023 was 10µg/m³. That's 2.0 times the WHO guideline for clean air of 5µg/m³.

This is equivalent of everybody, including children, smoking about 166 cigarettes in a year.

Trends

Air Quality Trend

Annual PM2.5 levels from 2014 to 2023. The WHO guideline for safe air is 5 µg/m³.

Health Impact

Life Expectancy Impact

If Kemerovo met the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³, the average person would live 0.51 years longer.

That's 1.3M years of life stolen from 2.6 million people. Years of watching children grow up. Years of building a career. Years of quiet mornings and celebrations.

Lives cut short. Breathing kills.

Most Polluted

Districts with Highest Pollution

The top 10 most polluted districts in Kemerovo. These areas face the greatest health burden from air pollution.

1.Mariynsk
0.7 years lost
2.Mariynskiy rayon
0.7 years lost
3.Chebulinskiy rayon
0.7 years lost
4.Tyazhinskiy rayon
0.7 years lost
5.Tisul'skiy rayon
0.6 years lost
6.Kemerovo
0.6 years lost
7.Kemerovskiy rayon
0.6 years lost
8.Gur'evsk
0.5 years lost
9.Izhmorskiy rayon
0.5 years lost
10.Gur'evskiy rayon
0.5 years lost

Exposure

Population Exposure by Pollution Level

Distribution of population across different PM2.5 pollution levels. The WHO guideline is 5 µg/m³—only populations below this threshold are breathing safe air.

< 5 µg/m³

5-10 µg/m³

68.5%

1.8M

10-15 µg/m³

31.5%

826K

15-25 µg/m³

25-35 µg/m³

> 35 µg/m³

Districts

All 34 Districts in Kemerovo

Complete air quality data for every district in Kemerovo, sorted by population.

District	Population	PM2.5 µg/m³	Years Lost
Novokuznetskiy	776K	9.7	0.5 years
Kemerovskiy rayon	584K	10.6	0.6 years
Prokop'evskiy rayon	330K	9.7	0.5 years
Leninsk-Kuznetskiy rayon	159K	9.6	0.4 years
Belovskiy rayon	105K	9.9	0.5 years
Yurginskiy rayon	101K	9.5	0.4 years
Yayskiy rayon	98K	9.6	0.5 years
Gur'evskiy rayon	84K	10.1	0.5 years
Mariynskiy rayon	56K	12.0	0.7 years
Yashkinskiy rayon	51K	9.6	0.4 years
Tashtagol'skiy rayon	50K	7.3	0.2 years
Topkinskiy rayon	46K	9.6	0.5 years
Promyshlennovskiy rayon	43K	9.7	0.5 years
Tisul'skiy rayon	26K	11.2	0.6 years
Tyazhinskiy rayon	24K	11.7	0.7 years
Krapivinskiy rayon	23K	9.9	0.5 years
Kemerovo	15K	10.7	0.6 years
Chebulinskiy rayon	15K	11.8	0.7 years
Izhmorskiy rayon	13K	10.3	0.5 years
Mezhdurechenskiy rayon	11K	9.7	0.5 years
Belovo	6K	10.0	0.5 years
Mezhdurechenski	3K	9.6	0.4 years
Gur'evsk	3K	10.5	0.5 years
Yurga	2K	9.4	0.4 years
Prokop'evsk	1K	9.6	0.4 years
Kiselevsk	1K	9.8	0.5 years
Berezovskiy	723	10.1	0.5 years
Tayga	553	9.6	0.5 years
Anzhero-Sudzhensk	293	9.5	0.4 years
Topki	80	9.6	0.5 years
Novokuznetsk	3	10.0	0.5 years
Mariynsk	1	12.2	0.7 years
Osinnikskiy rayon	1	8.4	0.3 years
Tashtagol	0	0.0	0.0 years

Showing 34 districts, sorted by population (largest first). PM2.5 values are for 2023. Years lost calculated against WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³.

Breathing in Kemerovo is Injurious to Health.