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Fine-Particle Air Pollution: China, India and the West
Mean population exposure to PM2.5, micrograms per cubic metre, yearly
1 of 5 series is above their level a year earlier
Plays the chart through its history. Pauses are where the data set a record or moved most.
OECD, exposure to air pollution (CC BY 4.0): population-weighted annual mean concentration of fine particles, modelled from satellite, ground-monitor and chemical-transport data, so a national figure hides big differences between cities and countryside. The OECD’s series ends some years behind the present. The World Health Organization’s guideline for the annual mean is far below most of these readings.
China cut the fine-particle pollution its people breathe sharply after its 2013 clean-air plan; India’s exposure remains among the highest in the world. Exposure in the United States and Germany is a fraction of either.
What this chart reads
- India · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³as “India”behindlatest 2020-12-31
- China · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³as “China”behindlatest 2020-12-31
- World · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³as “World”behindlatest 2020-12-31
- Germany · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³as “Germany”behindlatest 2020-12-31
- United States · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³as “United States”behindlatest 2020-12-31
Sources
India · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³. Source: OECD, "Exposure to air pollution" (OECD.ENV.EPI, DSD_AIR_POL@DF_AIR_POLL, measure MEAN_POP): https://data-explorer.oecd.org. OECD terms: data under CC BY 4.0. Palanor reads it monthly with (DBnomics mirror when the OECD service is down) and stores the OECD's values unchanged. The World Bank's PM2.5 series is not used because its source (IHME) licenses it for non-commercial use only.
China · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³. Source: OECD, "Exposure to air pollution" (OECD.ENV.EPI, DSD_AIR_POL@DF_AIR_POLL, measure MEAN_POP): https://data-explorer.oecd.org. OECD terms: data under CC BY 4.0. Palanor reads it monthly with (DBnomics mirror when the OECD service is down) and stores the OECD's values unchanged. The World Bank's PM2.5 series is not used because its source (IHME) licenses it for non-commercial use only.
World · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³. Source: OECD, "Exposure to air pollution" (OECD.ENV.EPI, DSD_AIR_POL@DF_AIR_POLL, measure MEAN_POP): https://data-explorer.oecd.org. OECD terms: data under CC BY 4.0. Palanor reads it monthly with (DBnomics mirror when the OECD service is down) and stores the OECD's values unchanged. The World Bank's PM2.5 series is not used because its source (IHME) licenses it for non-commercial use only.
Germany · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³. Source: OECD, "Exposure to air pollution" (OECD.ENV.EPI, DSD_AIR_POL@DF_AIR_POLL, measure MEAN_POP): https://data-explorer.oecd.org. OECD terms: data under CC BY 4.0. Palanor reads it monthly with (DBnomics mirror when the OECD service is down) and stores the OECD's values unchanged. The World Bank's PM2.5 series is not used because its source (IHME) licenses it for non-commercial use only.
United States · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³. Source: OECD, "Exposure to air pollution" (OECD.ENV.EPI, DSD_AIR_POL@DF_AIR_POLL, measure MEAN_POP): https://data-explorer.oecd.org. OECD terms: data under CC BY 4.0. Palanor reads it monthly with (DBnomics mirror when the OECD service is down) and stores the OECD's values unchanged. The World Bank's PM2.5 series is not used because its source (IHME) licenses it for non-commercial use only.
Charts are drawn from Palanor's signal library and recomputed from source data on every view. Transformations (changes, indexing, year-on-year rates) are Palanor's.