Large gaps in monitoring urban air pollution in low- and middle- income countries associated with economic conditions and political institutions.

ABSTRACT: Ambient air pollution has highly adverse effects on public health and the environment, particularly in urban areas of low- and middle- income countries (LMIC). Systematic air quality monitoring (AQM) is considered a precondition for effective policies to mitigate this problem, and making AQM data publicly available also signals commitment to take action. Thus far, little is known about the global capacity for public AQM, and how it varies across geographic location, pollution exposure, and socio-economic and political conditions. We thus constructed a novel, geocoded dataset on AQM activity in more than ten thousand urban areas of low- to middle-income countries. In almost 90% of these urban areas, we are unable to identify any monitoring activity, and the form and extent of AQM in the rem

SUBMITTER: Schoch M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12798989 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature