This project analyzes the relationship between air pollution exposure and health outcomes across countries using open healthcare data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The analysis focuses on PM2.5 air pollution levels and air-pollution-attributable death rates at the country level and continent level for the year 2019.
The data was accessed programmatically via the WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) API.
-
PM2.5 Exposure (
SDGPM25) Average national concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), measured in µg/m³. -
Air-Pollution-Attributable Death Rate (
AIR_5) Mortality rate attributable to air pollution, reported at the country level.
The final dataset represents a cross-sectional snapshot for 2019 and contains 183 countries. For furhter analysis corresponding continent is also added.
Each row corresponds to one country in one year with the following variables:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
country_code |
ISO country code |
year |
Reference year (2019) |
pm25 |
Average PM2.5 exposure (µg/m³) |
death_rate |
Death rate attributable to air pollution |
continent |
Continent |
-
PM2.5 data was filtered to include national total exposure values only.
-
Death-rate data was filtered to:
- Country-level observations
- Both sexes combined
- Total air-pollution causes
-
The two datasets were merged using country code and year, retaining only countries with data available for both indicators.
- The analysis is cross-sectional, limited to the year 2019, due to the availability of country-level mortality data.
- The dataset supports between-country comparisons and between-continent comparisons.
- Results describe associations, not causal relationships.
This dataset is suitable for:
- Exploratory data analysis (EDA)
- Cross-country comparison of environmental health risks
- Visualization and policy-oriented insights
- Portfolio demonstration of real-world data ingestion and preparation
This project provides a country-level snapshot of PM2.5 air pollution exposure and its associated mortality impact across 183 countries in 2019.
who-air-pollution-analysis/
├── assets/
├── data/
│ ├── raw/
│ └── processed/
├── notebooks/
├── README.md
- 🌫️ PM2.5 exposure varies substantially across countries, with the highest levels concentrated in parts of the Middle East and South Asia.
- ☣️ Air-pollution-attributable mortality does not increase proportionally with PM2.5 levels; the observed relationship is weakly positive, indicating a complex and non-linear association.
- 🌍 Countries with the highest air-pollution death rates exhibit only moderate average PM2.5 exposure (≈15 µg/m³), which is lower than the global average (≈22 µg/m³). This suggests that high mortality can occur even without extreme pollution levels.
- 🔎 In contrast, countries with the highest PM2.5 exposure show average mortality rates close to the global mean, highlighting that high pollution alone does not necessarily translate into the highest health burden.
- 🧩 These contrasting country-level patterns indicate that population vulnerability—such as age structure, baseline health, and healthcare system capacity—plays a critical role in shaping pollution-related health outcomes.
- 🌏 Asia exhibits the highest average PM2.5 exposure, accompanied by elevated mortality, reinforcing its central role in the global pollution burden.
- 🇪🇺 Europe records the highest average air-pollution-attributable mortality despite relatively low PM2.5 exposure, underscoring the influence of demographic structure and underlying health conditions.
- 🌍 Africa combines high PM2.5 exposure with comparatively moderate mortality, suggesting the role of younger population structures, under-diagnosis, or variation in healthcare access.
- 🌎 North America and Oceania show both low PM2.5 exposure and low mortality, reflecting stronger environmental regulation and healthcare systems.
- 🌎 South America falls between these extremes, indicating mixed environmental and health system conditions.
- 🌏 Asia has the highest average PM2.5 exposure, while Europe records the highest air-pollution-attributable mortality, demonstrating that pollution intensity alone does not determine health outcomes.
- 🏛️ Air quality policies should be complemented by health system strengthening, especially in regions experiencing high mortality despite moderate pollution exposure.
- 📊 Cross-country and regional assessments of air pollution impacts must incorporate demographic and healthcare context, rather than relying solely on pollution intensity metrics.
- 📈 Reducing PM2.5 exposure remains important, but targeted public health interventions may yield substantial benefits even where pollution levels are not extreme.
⚠️ As this analysis is cross-sectional (2019), findings describe associations rather than causation, underscoring the need for longitudinal studies to evaluate long-term exposure effects.
Air pollution matters, but population vulnerability and health system capacity are decisive factors in determining its ultimate health impact across both countries and regions.