REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSINGAPORE, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Despite improvements in China, air pollution across the globe continues to pose the greatest external risk to human health, with countries in Asia and Africa suffering most of the impact, new research showed on Tuesday.
PM2.5 in South Asia has risen by nearly 10% since 2013, she said, cutting average life expectancy in the region by around five years.
Virtually all of Southeast Asia is also now considered to have "unsafe levels of pollution", with average life expectancy cut by 2-3 years.
China's average PM2.5 concentrations stood at 29 micrograms per cubic metre in 2022, but it still remains significantly higher than the WHO recommendation of 5 micrograms.
"We haven't turned the corner on air pollution yet, though China's example shows us that the issue is a tractable one," Hasenkopf said.
Persons:
Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Christa Hasenkopf, haven't, Hasenkopf, David Stanway, Stephen Coates
Organizations:
REUTERS, Rights, University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute, EPIC, World Health Organization, WHO, Thomson
Locations:
Beijing, China, Asia, Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, South Asia, Southeast Asia