An estimated ****** deaths were attributable to air pollution in the United States in 2021. The annual number of deaths attributable to air pollution in the United States has dropped significantly since 1990. The decline in deaths has coincided with improved air quality, with PM2.5 levels in the U.S. falling more than ** percent since the turn of the century.

United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: Age-standardized: Male data was reported at 17.000 NA in 2016. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: Age-standardized: Male data is updated yearly, averaging 17.000 NA from Dec 2016 (Median) to 2016, with 1 observations. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: Age-standardized: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution is the number of deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in a year per 100,000 population. The rates are age-standardized. Following diseases are taken into account: acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages); cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); ischaemic heart diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults (estimated above 25 years); and lung cancer in adults (estimated above 25 years).; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

Annual emissions of various air pollutants in the United States have experienced dramatic reductions over the past half a century. As of 2024, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) had reduced by more than ** percent since 1970 to *** million tons. Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions have also fallen dramatically in recent decades, dropping from ** million tons to *** million tons between 1990 and 2024. Air pollutants can pose serious health hazards to humans, with the number of air pollution related deaths in the U.S. averaging ****** a year.

Age-adjusted mortality rates for the contiguous United States in 2000–2005 were obtained from the Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research system of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015). Age-adjusted mortality rates were weighted averages of the age-specific death rates, and they were used to account for different age structures among populations (Curtin and Klein 1995). The mortality rates for counties with < 10 deaths were suppressed by the CDC to protect privacy and to ensure data reliability; only counties with ≥ 10 deaths were included in the analyses. The underlying cause of mortality was specified using the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (10th revision; ICD-10). In this study, we focused on the all-cause mortality rate (A00-R99) and on mortality rates from the three leading causes: heart disease (I00-I09, I11, I13, and I20-I51), cancer (C00-C97), and stroke (I60- I69) (Heron 2013). We excluded mortality due to external causes for all-cause mortality, as has been done in many previous studies (e.g., Pearce et al. 2010, 2011; Zanobetti and Schwartz 2009), because external causes of mortality are less likely to be related to environmental quality. We also focused on the contiguous United States because the numbers of counties with available cause-specific mortality rates were small in Hawaii and Alaska. County-level rates were available for 3,101 of the 3,109 counties in the contiguous United States (99.7%) for all-cause mortality; for 3,067 (98.6%) counties for heart disease mortality; for 3,057 (98.3%) counties for cancer mortality; and for 2,847 (91.6%) counties for stroke mortality. The EQI includes variables representing five environmental domains: air, water, land, built, and sociodemographic (2). The domain-specific indices include both beneficial and detrimental environmental factors. The air domain includes 87 variables representing criteria and hazardous air pollutants. The water domain includes 80 variables representing overall water quality, general water contamination, recreational water quality, drinking water quality, atmospheric deposition, drought, and chemical contamination. The land domain includes 26 variables representing agriculture, pesticides, contaminants, facilities, and radon. The built domain includes 14 variables representing roads, highway/road safety, public transit behavior, business environment, and subsidized housing environment. The sociodemographic environment includes 12 variables representing socioeconomics and crime. This dataset is not publicly accessible because: EPA cannot release personally identifiable information regarding living individuals, according to the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This dataset contains information about human research subjects. Because there is potential to identify individual participants and disclose personal information, either alone or in combination with other datasets, individual level data are not appropriate to post for public access. Restricted access may be granted to authorized persons by contacting the party listed. It can be accessed through the following means: Human health data are not available publicly. EQI data are available at: https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/NHEERL/EQI. Format: Data are stored as csv files. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Jian, Y., L. Messer, J. Jagai, K. Rappazzo, C. Gray, S. Grabich, and D. Lobdell. Associations between environmental quality and mortality in the contiguous United States 2000-2005. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, 125(3): 355-362, (2017).

Death rates attributable to air pollution in the United States were estimated at *** deaths per 100,000 people in 2021. This was well below the global average death rate that year of 100 per 100,000 people. Death rates linked to air pollution in the U.S. have fallen by almost ** percent since 1990.

Forecast: Mortality Due to Air Pollution in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

China and India saw the largest number of air pollution-related deaths worldwide in 2021, with more than *********** recorded in each. Together, the world's two most populous countries accounted for approximately ** percent of global deaths from diseases linked to air pollution that year. Health effects of air pollution There are a number of health impacts linked to air pollution. These range from milder symptoms like sore throats and irritated eyes, to more serious effects that increase the risk of premature mortality, including strokes, heart disease, and lung cancer. Where is air pollution highest? In 2024, the world's most polluted countries based on PM2.5 concentrations were Chad, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, with average levels in each country more than ** times above World Health Organization (WHO) recommended guidelines. Although India ranked fifth that year, it was still home to ** of the ** most polluted cities in the world in 2024.

Dataset contains information on New York City air quality surveillance data.

Air pollution is one of the most important environmental threats to urban populations and while all people are exposed, pollutant emissions, levels of exposure, and population vulnerability vary across neighborhoods. Exposures to common air pollutants have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and premature deaths. These indicators provide a perspective across time and NYC geographies to better characterize air quality and health in NYC. Data can also be explored online at the Environment and Health Data Portal: http://nyc.gov/health/environmentdata.

United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: per 100,000 Population data was reported at 13.300 Ratio in 2016. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: per 100,000 Population data is updated yearly, averaging 13.300 Ratio from Dec 2016 (Median) to 2016, with 1 observations. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: per 100,000 Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution is the number of deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in a year per 100,000 population. The rates are age-standardized. Following diseases are taken into account: acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages); cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); ischaemic heart diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults (estimated above 25 years); and lung cancer in adults (estimated above 25 years).; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

Data on county socioeconomic status for 2,132 US counties and each county’s average annual cardiovascular mortality rate (CMR) and total PM2.5 concentration for 21 years (1990-2010). County CMR, PM2.5, and socioeconomic data were obtained from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system, and the U.S. Census, respectively. A socioeconomic index was created using seven county-level measures from the 1990 US census using factor analysis. Quintiles of this index were used to generate categories of county socioeconomic status. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Wyatt, L., G. Peterson, T. Wade, L. Neas, and A. Rappold. The contribution of improved air quality to reduced cardiovascular mortality: Declines in socioeconomic differences over time. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL. Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, 136: 105430, (2020).

In 2021, there were more than *** thousand deaths attributable to air pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil was the country with the largest number of deaths, at approximately ** thousand. Mexico followed, with slightly over ** thousand deaths. An invisible killer among Brazilians In Brazil, fine-particle outdoor pollution (PM2.5) – meaning particles with a diameter smaller than *** micrometers – typically accounts for more than ** percent of air pollution-related deaths due to air pollution. In its fine form, particulate matter has been credited as a leading cause of respiratory-related diseases, the third most prominent cause of death among Brazilians. Coal and waste burning, industrial activities, and heavy vehicular traffic are some of the main causes of ambient air pollution. The burden of fuel burning Although Brazil and Mexico have the highest death tolls due to air pollution in Latin America – a result not entirely unexpected give they have the largest populations in the region – they do not necessarily have the region's highest urban pollution levels. Instead, Chile had some of the most polluted cities in Latin America in 2023. These high levels have been mostly ascribed to a cultural tradition of wood-fired cooking. A similar situation can be found in Haiti. In 2023, the Caribbean country – which ranked fourth in deaths due to air pollution in Latin America, despite not even making it to the top ten in terms of population – has by far the largest share of population exposed to household air pollution from solid fuels in the region.

Mortality calculations: Main cases and Sensitivity scenarios. (ZIP 56740Â kb)

United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: Age-standardized: Female data was reported at 10.000 NA in 2016. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: Age-standardized: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 10.000 NA from Dec 2016 (Median) to 2016, with 1 observations. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Household and Ambient Air Pollution: Age-standardized: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution is the number of deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in a year per 100,000 population. The rates are age-standardized. Following diseases are taken into account: acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages); cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); ischaemic heart diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults (estimated above 25 years); and lung cancer in adults (estimated above 25 years).; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

This repository contains replication code and publicly-available data accompanying the article "Air Pollution and Suicide in Rural and Urban America: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke".Reproducing the results of the study requires the restricted-access Detailed Mortality Files (2007-2019) from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which is not provided as part of this repository. Instructions for requesting the data can be found in the accompanying article. This repository contains all code and cleaned publicly-available data, allowing users with access to the NCHS data to replicate all results of the study.Article Abstract:Air pollution poses well-established risks to physical health, but little is known about its effects on mental health. We study the relationship between wildfire smoke exposure and suicide risk in the United States in 2007 to 2019 using data on all deaths by suicide and satellite-based measures of wildfire smoke and ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations. We identify the causal effects of wildfire smoke pollution on suicide by relating year-over-year fluctuations in county-level monthly smoke exposure to fluctuations in suicide rates and compare the effects across local areas and demographic groups that differ considerably in their baseline suicide risk. In rural counties, an additional day of smoke increases monthly mean PM2.5 by 0.41 μg/m3 and suicide deaths by 0.11 per million residents, such that a 1-μg/m3 (13%) increase in monthly wildfire-derived fine particulate matter leads to 0.27 additional suicide deaths per million residents (a 2.0% increase). These effects are concentrated among demographic groups with both high baseline suicide risk and high exposure to outdoor air: men, working-age adults, non-Hispanic Whites, and adults with no college education. By contrast, we find no evidence that smoke pollution increases suicide risk among any urban demographic group. This study provides large-scale evidence that air pollution elevates the risk of suicide, disproportionately so among rural populations.

Excel workbook of age-standardised baseline mortality rates (BMRs) for each US county by race and ethnicity used for calculating racial-ethnic disparities in health burdens for air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States.The workbook includes 3 sheets:BMRs for all-cause mortality in 25+ years population for calculating premature mortality from exposure to fine particular matter (PM2.5).BMRs for all-cause mortality in 65+ years population for calculating premature mortality from exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), andBMRs for all-ages chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality from exposure to ozone air pollution.Raw BMRs from the US US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER) are processed to gap fill data not reported at the county level. This data gap filling is detailed in Vohra et al. (2025) Science Advances, "The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States", doi:10.1126/sciadv.adu2241.

This dataset includes results and supplementary data of the publication titled “Premature mortality related to United States cross-state air pollution”, which presents the exchange of air pollution attributable early death impacts between the contiguous US states for 7 emissions sectors and 3 years (2005, 2011, and 2018). State-level source-receptor matrices are included for all years and species/sector combinations, in addition to the source-level definitions of each emission sector used

Energy generation was the largest contributor to particulate matter (PM2.5) attributable deaths in the United States in 2021, at *****. Meanwhile, just over ***** deaths were linked to PM2.5 from industries.

In the application study of our submitted manuscript, we demonstrate our proposed methodology by modeling respiratory related deaths at the county and monthly level across California from 2015-2019. This data is downloaded from the California Department of Public Health's California Vital Data (Cal-ViDa) query tool. The model leverages spatial patterns in social deprivation index (SDI) from the Society of Actuaries (SoA) and air pollutant measurements from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to estimate the spatiotemporal dependence structure of the response. All of the data used for this application study is publicly available and thus will all be provided in this repository.
, , # Modeling respiratory related mortality in California from air pollution and social deprivation data

Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xtt

Description of the data and file structure

This folder contains all the datasets and geographic files needed to run the analysis code in INLA-7.2-Final.Rmd. These datasets were downloaded from various publicly available sources.Â

Files and variables

• CA_census_pops1019.xlsx: census population data for counties of California for each year 2010-2019
  • REGION: US census region code
  • DIVISION:Â US census division code
  • STATE:Â US census state code
  • COUNTY:Â US census county code
  • STNAME: state name (all California)Â
  • CTYNAME: county name (all Californian counties)Â
  • POPESTIMATE2010: census population estimate for given county in 2010
  • POPESTIMATE201:Â census population estimate for given county in 2011
  • POPESTIMATE2012:Â census population estimate for given county in 2012
  • PO..., The mortality data is from Cal-ViDa which already de-identifies the data. Furthermore, small count cells are censored and must be imputed. The data is aggregated to the county level for the application study.

This dataset explores the relationship between the Air Quality Index (AQI) and death rates from respiratory illnesses in the United States from 2000 to 2019. It includes detailed data on AQI levels, ranging from good to hazardous, alongside corresponding mortality rates caused by conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumonia. The dataset covers counties across the entire United States, providing a geographically comprehensive analysis. By examining trends over two decades, this dataset offers valuable insights into how air quality impacts respiratory health outcomes nationwide.

BackgroundAmbient air pollution persists as a critical global health threat, ranking fourth among risk factors for premature mortality. Despite decades of air quality improvements in the U.S. through regulatory measures, persistent health impacts remain, driven primarily by particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone.ObjectiveThis study aimed to quantify long-term trends (1990–2021) in air pollution-attributable disease burdens across U.S. states, evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies, and identify priorities for future public health strategies to address persistent and emerging risks.MethodsUsing the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 dataset, we analyzed age-standardized mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs), and years lived with disability (YLDs) attributable to PM2.5, ozone, and household air pollution. Disease burdens were assessed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease (IHD), lower respiratory infections, stroke, and lung cancer. Data were standardized to the GBD reference population for comparability over time.ResultsFrom 1990 to 2021, PM2.5-attributable mortality declined by 80.5%, with IHD deaths falling by 70.6% (79,684–23,433 deaths) and associated DALYs by 71.2%. However, diabetes-related YLDs surged 97.4% nationally, reflecting interactions with obesity and lifestyle factors. Formerly high-pollution states (e.g., Indiana, Tennessee) achieved substantial (30%−40%) reductions in PM2.5-linked DALYs for IHD and COPD, while California saw a 12.3% rise in diabetes DALYs. In 2021, residual burdens disproportionately affected older adults and males, with IHD mortality rates 1.8 times higher in men. Ozone-related COPD deaths showed minimal decline despite falling ozone levels.