Air pollution causes 6.7 million premature deaths as monitoring gaps persist

Air pollution is the largest environmental health risk on the planet, causing 6.7 million premature deaths globally each year and costing the world economy an estimated US$8.1 trillion annually — about 6% of global GDP.

The mortality estimate covers the combined effects of outdoor and household air pollution and comes from the World Health Organization, while the World Bank estimates the annual health damage at 6.1% of global GDP.

Despite the scale of the crisis, many governments still lack the data needed to identify pollution sources, assess public exposure and determine whether clean-air policies are working.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Clean Air has responded by setting out five guiding principles intended to help governments, funders, businesses and civil-society organisations close monitoring gaps and turn air-quality measurements into effective action.

Nearly one billion people lack government-backed monitoring

An OpenAQ assessment of 198 countries and territories found evidence of continuous government-operated or sponsored air-quality monitoring in only 64% of them in 2024.

No recent evidence of such monitoring was found in the remaining 71 countries, representing 36% of those examined and a combined population of nearly one billion people.

Nine in every 10 people living in those countries were in low-income or lower-middle-income economies, highlighting the unequal distribution of the world’s air-quality infrastructure.

The problem is not confined to countries with no government-backed monitoring. Even where measurements are being collected, the information is not always released in a form that scientists, communities and policymakers can fully use.

OpenAQ found that 55% of the countries examined shared some air-quality data publicly, but only 27% released it in a fully transparent and accessible way. Useful open data should include physical pollution measurements, individual monitoring-station locations, frequent updates and machine-readable access.

More sensors do not always mean more accessible data

Air-quality monitoring has expanded over the past decade as lower-cost sensors have become more widely available and governments have continued investing in reference-grade stations.

However, collecting measurements and making them openly available are separate challenges.

Some authorities lack the technical systems or expertise needed to publish data. Others may be reluctant to release evidence of high pollution because of concerns about political criticism, investment or tourism.

Commercial restrictions can also limit access. Some sensor suppliers retain control over information generated by their equipment or prevent purchasers from transferring it to independent public platforms. As a result, potentially valuable data can remain inaccessible even after money has been spent on monitoring.

The council argues that openness should therefore be included when monitoring systems are designed and purchased, rather than being addressed only after the equipment has been installed.

Five principles put openness at the centre

The proposed framework is built around five priorities:

1. Expand monitoring and maintain it over time. Monitoring networks should cover underserved communities, develop local technical capacity and include open-data requirements in procurement, licensing and infrastructure plans from the beginning.
2. Protect local ownership of the information. Governments and organisations buying sensors should own the data their equipment generates and retain the right to publish it through a platform of their choice, wherever legally and technically possible.
3. Safeguard accuracy and integrity. Public information must be reliable, quality-controlled and responsibly managed. Poor-quality open data can undermine trust, while accurate information that remains closed has limited public value.
4. Use compatible standards and formats. Common protocols and machine-readable formats allow measurements from different stations, cities and countries to be compared, combined and independently analysed.
5. Convert measurements into practical action. Monitoring should ultimately support policies that reduce pollution, protect health and hold decision-makers accountable. Collecting more figures is not an end in itself.

Under the framework, philanthropic organisations and development funders would include data-ownership and transparency clauses in grant agreements.

Governments would make information gathered with public money available at station level, in physical units and as close to real time as possible. Sensor manufacturers would ensure that customers could access and share their own measurements, while civil-society groups would examine suppliers’ data policies before purchasing equipment.

Local monitoring begins to shape national policy

Examples from Africa indicate how relatively modest monitoring projects can influence policy when their results remain locally controlled and publicly accessible.

In The Gambia, the Permian Health Lung Institute established the country’s first real-time PM2.5 monitoring network, combining 10 lower-cost sensors with a reference-grade station.

The resulting measurements showed particulate pollution at about seven times WHO-recommended levels, according to the institute. The data prompted the National Environment Agency to review standards and contributed to legislative proposals addressing particulate matter, transport emissions and waste management.

In Uganda, locally generated information from AirQo monitoring systems has been used by national and city authorities to inform air-quality standards, environmental reporting and local pollution-control measures.

AirQo said its data had helped authorities understand pollution patterns in cities where monitoring had previously been limited, while some local governments introduced dedicated air-quality spending and measures to reduce dust and waste burning.

Nairobi has also developed a city-owned air-quality data-management system and public portal. The World Economic Forum highlighted the Kenyan capital as an example of local measurements being incorporated into government systems rather than published without a direct connection to policymaking.

Open information can strengthen accountability

Making measurements publicly available can help researchers identify pollution sources, allow residents to understand the air they are breathing and enable authorities to judge whether regulations are having an effect.

It can also strengthen accountability by giving the public, journalists and independent specialists access to the same evidence used by governments.

Research has found that releasing real-time measurements can increase awareness and pressure for action, while monitoring also allows governments to direct limited resources towards the sources and locations causing the greatest harm.

The five principles are presented as a starting point rather than a binding international standard. Their central argument is that installing monitors is not enough: the data must be accurate, locally owned, comparable, openly accessible and used to produce cleaner air.

Sources: World Economic Forum, World Health Organisation