The State Of Global Air report focuses on the health impacts associated with air pollution levels in cities and urban spaces around the world. The data for this in-depth report relies on the research from the Global Burden of Disease project and from peer-reviewed analyses led by Susan Anenberg of George Washington University. The report concludes that the burden of PM2.5 on health included diseases such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections, lung cancer, type 2 diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among others. 

More than 7,000 cities were studied with respect to their air pollution between 2010 and 2019. To understand the ambient fine particle air pollution, a detailed study of the patterns, trends and sources and associated illness of PM 2.5 and NO2 exposure in urban settings were explained and elaborated on. Extensive research and comparison between the ground-level measurement of pollution and satellite-derived estimates determined that the data was fairly accurate.

“Although short-term exposure spikes can affect health, it is long-term exposures that contribute most to the burden of disease and mortality from air pollution and therefore are the focus of this report,” stated the report. A collaboration between the Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease project, the report also has a companion interactive website for people to  track long-term trends for air pollution and their implications on health through comparisons and graphics.