Higher air pollution in wealthy districts of most low- and middle-income countries

Arnold Behrer and Sam Heft-Neal
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Sam Heft-Neal: Stanford University Center on Food Security and the Environment

Nature Sustainability, 2024, vol. 7, issue 2, 203-212

Abstract: Abstract Air pollution is a major threat to health and the dangers are particularly acute in low- and middle-income countries where levels of exposure tend to be high and adaptation resources are often limited. However, little is known about how the burden of pollution is spread across different income groups within these countries. Understanding who is impacted by air pollution is important for designing equitable policy solutions. In this study, we used data providing high-resolution wealth estimates for more than 100 countries, combined with high-resolution estimates of air pollution, to estimate how wealth is correlated with ambient air pollution in low- and middle-income countries around the world. We found that within countries, on average, air pollution is positively correlated with wealth, but the relationship is highly heterogeneous across countries. Countries with primarily anthropogenic sources of air pollution seem to have the strongest positive correlations between pollution and wealth. The fact that air pollution and wealth are both disproportionately high in urban areas where economic activity is largely concentrated seems to drive this relationship. The spatial correlation between pollution and areas of economic opportunity highlights the urgent need to develop policies that reduce air pollution to promote more equitable economic growth.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-023-01254-x

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