State of Global Air 2025 Report

On 23rd October 2025, the sixth edition of the State of Global Air (SoGA) report was released by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the NCD Alliance, highlighting the growing impacts of air pollution on global health.

Key Points

Global Mortality: Air pollution caused 7.9 million deaths in 2023, with 6.8 million (86%) from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and chronic respiratory illnesses.
Economic and Social Burden: NCDs from air pollution result in 161 million healthy years of life lost, leading to higher healthcare use, hospital admissions, loss of productivity, and mental health impacts on individuals and caregivers.
Dementia Impacts: For the first time, the report included air pollution-related dementia, contributing to over 625,000 deaths and nearly 12 million healthy years of life lost in 2023, with an estimated global economic impact exceeding $1 trillion annually.
Risk Factors Recognition: Air pollution is now recognized alongside tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and harmful use of alcohol as a top global risk factor for NCDs by the United Nations and World Health Assembly.
PM2.5 Pollution: Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is the largest driver of air pollution-related disease, causing 4.9 million deaths and 124 million healthy years of life lost in 2023
Regional Exposure: Highest PM2.5 exposures occur in South Asia; North Africa and the Middle East; and East, West, Central, and Southern Africa.