By Favour Nnabugwu
Nigeria is among the top 10 African countries with air pollution in the world with 36 percent of pollution ranking 18th in the 5th Annual World Air Quality Report.
First on the list of the othe 9 countried is Chad with 89.7 percent air pollution, followed by Burkina Faso with 63.0 positioned as number 6th; Egypt is 9th with 46.5 percent; Sudan is 12th with 44.6 percent; Rwanda is 44.0 percent, 13th; Uganda is 39.6 percent, 17th; Ethiopia is 31.3 percent, 23rd; Ghana 30.2 percent, 27th and Gabon 25.0 percent, 32nd
The biggest threat to environmental health in the world still involves air pollution. Over six million deaths annually and 93 billion days of illness are attributed to poor air quality globally. The total economic cost exceeds $8 trillion, or 6.1% of the annual global gross domestic product. Numerous health conditions, such as asthma, lung diseases, heart disease, and early mortality, are brought on by and made worse by exposure to air pollution.
Populations that are already at risk are most severely affected by air pollution. More than 90% of deaths attributed to pollution take place in low- and middle-income nations. There is a higher risk of developing or worsening health conditions in children under the age of 18, pregnant women, and older adults who are exposed to air pollution.
As a result, it is important to know the air health of the region you’re residing in, which is why IQAir, an organization mandated to fight the effects of polluted air. IQAir also operates the world’s largest free real-time air quality information platform.
The air quality scientists at IQAir examined data from over 30,000 air quality monitoring stations spread across 7,323 locations in 131 countries, territories, and regions for this year’s report.
According to the data collated, Africa continues to be the continent with the lowest representation, despite an increase from 13 countries represented in 2021 to 19 countries included in this year’s report.
Out of 54 countries, only 19 have enough information on air quality. The data analyzed for this report comes exclusively from empirically measured PM2.5 data collected from ground-level air monitoring stations. The PM2.5 measurement data in this report is aggregated from both regulatory air quality monitoring instrumentation and low-cost air quality sensors.
These devices are operated by government agencies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and individual citizens who contribute to the monitoring of their local air quality.
PM2.5 concentration describes the amount of fine particulate aerosol particles up to 2.5 microns in diameter and is used as the standard air quality indicator for the World Air Quality Report. Measured in micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3 ), PM2.5 is one of six major air pollutants commonly used in the classification of air quality.
