Horrific Air Pollution in Europe Reaches 7 cigarettes per day equivalent, a pack a day in India and China
It’s winter, and that’s the worst air pollution period for Europe and China. The levels over much of the continent are in the unhealthy range. The global air quality real-time map of Berkeley Earth is updated hourly.
The scale of “cigarettes per day” is used to make the levels easiest to understand. They were calculated by comparing the known health risk of cigarettes to the known health risks of PM2.5 as estimated by the World Health Organization. Throughout much of Europe the pollution levels give a health effect equivalent to that of every man, woman and child smoking 5 cigarettes per day; in the worst regions of Europe, the level exceeds 7 cigarettes per day equivalent.
The worst pollution is in India and China, where levels reach over a pack of cigarettes per day (PM2.5 above 400 micrograms per cubic meter).
The pollution tends to be exacerbated in winter, when more fuel is burned for heat (even renewables such as wood and biomass contribute to air pollution) and when atmospheric conditions are likely to trap the pollution.
