Improving WHO urban air pollutant database

The paper evaluates the 2018 WHO global ambient air quality database, which contains PM10 and PM2.5 data for thousands of cities worldwide. It identifies challenges in comparing air pollution across different income levels and warns that the database has been used to draw inaccurate conclusions.

• The 2018 WHO global ambient air quality database contains PM10 monitoring data for 3,570 cities across 97 countries and PM2.5 data for 2,628 cities in 81 countries, utilizing measurements and estimates from public monitoring systems.
• Urban particulate matter pollution levels are relatively low in high-income countries in Oceania, the Americas, the Western Pacific, and Western Europe, while high levels persist in low- and middle-income countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, where staffing and funding shortages hinder pollution reduction.
• The database has been used by the media, organizations, and politicians to reach misleading and inaccurate conclusions when making comparisons between cities, a problem that also occurred with the 2016 version.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2020). Improving WHO urban air pollutant database. https://www.sei.org/publications/improving-who-urban-air-pollutant-database/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Improving WHO urban air pollutant database. 2020. https://www.sei.org/publications/improving-who-urban-air-pollutant-database/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Improving WHO urban air pollutant database |date=25 April 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/improving-who-urban-air-pollutant-database/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2020improving, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Improving WHO urban air pollutant database}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/improving-who-urban-air-pollutant-database/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }