Improving WHO urban air pollutant database

This research paper evaluates the 2018 WHO global ambient air quality database, which tracks PM10 and PM2.5 levels across thousands of cities. It notes that while high-income regions report low pollution, low- and middle-income regions in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America face high levels and resource barriers. The paper warns that the database has been used to draw misleading city-to-city comparisons and proposes improvements based on criteria like data completeness and quality control.

• The 2018 WHO global ambient air quality database shows a disparity in urban particulate matter (PM) pollution levels based on national income: high-income countries in Western Europe, the Americas, the Western Pacific, and Oceania report relatively low levels, while low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America report high levels. In the latter group, inadequate staffing and lack of funding are identified as primary barriers to reducing air pollution.
• 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 of the database.
• This paper evaluates the 2018 WHO database against specific criteria, including quality assurance and quality control, completeness, the selection of pollutants, and temporal and spatial representativeness, to provide recommendations for improvement.

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} }