Charts

Wildlife populations have declined 68 percent over the past five decades, and climate change is only expected to exacerbate that trend. Yet, while studies have shown a clear link between the decline in wildlife species and human health (e.g. here...

For the first time in roughly a century, oil’s dominance as a transportation fuel is under threat. Electric vehicles have become cheaper, and consumers are buying more of them. At the same time, climate policies are becoming more stringent and...

Electrifying the transportation sector is widely recognized as a critical strategy for reducing carbon emissions. Countries like the United States and China have set ambitious goals for electric vehicle (EV) adoption, targeting 50% and 40% of total vehicle sales to...

Particulate air pollution (PM2.5) remains the world’s greatest external risk to human health, according to EPIC’s latest Air Quality Life Index report. Yet, the countries that are most impacted by air pollution lack the fundamental resources to combat it.  Asia...

National pollution standards are a powerful tool to reduce pollution. Yet, a third of the world’s population lives in regions that don’t meet their country’s own standards. If those countries did meet their own benchmarks, those 2.5 billion people would...

Pollution has been on the rise in the Middle East and North Africa—2022 was no exception, with pollution increasing 13 percent compared to 2021—making these areas of the world 3.7 times more polluted than what is recommended by the World...

The health focus in Sub-Saharan Africa has largely centered on infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria – which is supported by a $5 billion global fund. But the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) shows that the region, home to...

Despite significant increases in particulate pollution (PM2.5) in many regions of the world, global pollution has declined since 2013. That decline is due entirely to China’s success in steeply reducing pollution. In 2013, China experienced some of its highest pollution...

Despite improvements in air quality over the last two decades, Europeans today are breathing starkly different air. The western portion of the continent experiences generally cleaner air compared to the eastern part, where virtually all of the populations of Poland,...

Measured in terms of life expectancy, the AQLI reveals that ambient particulate pollution (PM2.5) is consistently the world’s greatest external risk to human health. While particulate pollution is set to reduce global average life expectancy by 1.9 years, smoking, for...