Statistics
This percentage of the human population breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization Air Quality guidelines.
What is 99%?
Air pollution causes and worsens this chronic respiratory disease in 300 million people.
What is asthma?
This is the total number of global cardiovascular deaths linked to outdoor air pollution annually.
What is 3.5 million deaths?
Because PM2.5 particles can directly cross this physiological boundary, they trigger neuroinflammation directly inside the brain.
What is the blood-brain barrier?
This is the annual cost of air pollution on the global economy, representing 5% of all welfare GDP losses.
What is $6 trillion?
According to data from 2019, this many deaths occurred globally solely due to fine particulate matter.
What is 4.14 million deaths?
Exactly 1 in 5 cases of this malignant chest cancer is linked directly to ambient air pollution.
What is lung cancer?
A person's risk of experiencing this acute cardiac event doubles on high-pollution days.
What is a heart attack?
Long-term exposure to heavy air pollution directly disrupts the balance of these chemicals, raising rates of depression and anxiety.
What are neurotransmitters?
This is the amount of money lost in labor productivity due to heat stress in the year 2024 alone.
What is $1.09 trillion?
Global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have grown by this multiple since 1950.
What is six-fold?
This type of particulate matter is dangerous because it is "too small to filter out," traveling straight into the lungs and blood.
What is PM 2.5?
High-pollution cities see this specific health event risk skyrocket by a measured 30%.
What is a stroke?
This chronic, degenerative brain disease causing memory loss is listed as a long-term risk of carbon pollution exposure.
What is dementia?
Air pollution generates this amount in healthcare costs within the United States every single year.
What is $800 billion?
Between 1950 and 1980, this country's annual carbon emissions grew by nearly 1,800%.
What is China?
This greenhouse gas, which can be formed from vehicle exhaust in sunlight, actively burns the sensitive lining of human airways.
What is ground-level ozone (tropospheric ozone)?
When PM2.5 enters the bloodstream, it triggers this condition that hardens and narrows arteries over time.
What is inflammation?
Due to climate trauma, survivors of extreme floods and wildfires develop this specific psychological disorder at rates similar to combat veterans.
What is PTSD?
Total economic losses stemming from extreme weather events hit this amount (in billions) in 2023.
What is $227 billion?
This many people are projected to face extreme food insecurity by the year 2050 due to climate impacts.
What is over 1 billion people?
This gas binds to human blood cells 200 times stronger than oxygen, starving vital organs.
What is carbon monoxide?
This bodily measurement rises due to narrowed arteries, forcing the heart to work way harder.
What is blood pressure?
These medical treatments impair a patient's temperature regulation, raising their risk during extreme heat waves.
What are psychiatric medications?
If the world completely defaults on climate action, the total cost of inaction is estimated to swallow this percentage range of global GDP by 2100.
What is 5-20%?