Air pollution is a global problem. It has been widely documented that 92% of the world’s population are living with unsafe levels of air pollution, and more than 7 million premature deaths annually are attributable to air pollution.
Air pollution is mainly a result of economic activities. Although there are 195 countries in the world, the vast majority of economic activities on the Earth take place in the countries of the Group of Twenty (G20).
It is reported that the G20 economies account for around 90% of the gross world product, 80% of world trade, two-thirds of the global population, and half of the earth land area. Thus, it may be important to directly compare air quality among G20 countries.
Extracted from the 2019 World Air Quality Report published by IQAir in February 2020, the PM2.5 data (a main indicator of air pollution) for G20 countries compared in the following chart.
(Average annual PM2.5 concentration in G20 countries in 2019. Data source: IQAir)
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