Pakistan’s Poor Air Quality Significantly Reducing Life Expectancy, Warns Report
Experts warn that without immediate action to curb emissions and improve air quality, the situation could worsen, leading to a public health crisis.

A recent report highlights a disturbing trend in Pakistan, where poor air quality is drastically reducing life expectancy across the country.
An annual report from the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) reveals that the deteriorating air quality in Pakistan is having a severe impact on the life expectancy of its citizens.
According to data, Pakistan’s air pollution levels have reached hazardous levels, with smog and particulate matter becoming a persistent threat to public health. The report suggests that prolonged exposure to such polluted air is shaving years off the average lifespan of citizens, with urban areas like Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad being the worst affected.
According to the report, Pakistanis — as part of South Asia, the world’s most polluted region — are exposed to particulate pollution levels that are 22.3% higher than that experienced at the turn of the century.

The report added that since virtually the entire population of Pakistan breathes air that doesn’t meet the PM2.5 standard set at 15 µg/m³, people’s life expectancy could be increased by 2.3 years if the country is able to meet its own PM2.5 standard.
“In Pakistan, where the PM2.5 concentration was 38.9 µg/m³ in 2022 — 10% lower compared to the particulate levels in 2021, the average resident would gain 3.3 years from meeting the World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline,” read the AQLI 2024 annual update.
“Those in Peshawar, the most polluted city in the country, would gain 5.6 years,” it added.
The AQLI report highlights a nearly fourfold surge in the number of vehicles in Pakistan since the early 2000s, along with a substantial rise in the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation, as key contributors to the worsening air pollution.

The report noted that 94 out of 252 countries and territories globally had national standards, making up 80% of the world’s population, it highlighted that 37 of those countries weren’t meeting them — which amounts to 30%of the world’s population.

The report identifies global pollution as the “greatest external threat to human life expectancy,” noting that individuals in the most polluted regions breathe air that is six times more contaminated than those in the least polluted areas.
As a result, their life expectancy is, on average, reduced by 2.7 years compared to people living in the cleanest environments.