Air Pollution in Ghana. Accra was blanketed in dust-laden winds from the Sahara Desert in early 2020. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Air pollution in Ghana

Ghana has the second worst air pollution — two years in a row — in Africa, the latest IQAir AirVisual’s 2020 World Air Quality Report has revealed.¹

The report is based on available data.

Air pollution levels in Ghana in 2020 were worse than those in Uganda², Nigeria³, and Angola.

Air pollution is a major risk factor for premature death in Ghana.

More than 28,000 people die from air pollution in Ghana every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Roughly around 7 million people die prematurely from air pollution worldwide every year, the WHO estimates show. Mainly from diseases such as stroke, lung cancer, heart disease, and respiratory infections, including pneumonia.

Particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution kills more people worldwide than wars, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and smoking, according to a new study by the European Society of Cardiology. The research was published in the journal Cardiovascular Research⁴ in March 2020.

Other recent studies have linked air pollution to increased risk for miscarriage⁵, up to 3.4 million preterm births⁶, mental illness⁷, brain cells damage⁸, cognitive impairment in children⁹, and a ‘huge’ reduction in intelligence¹⁰.

See other latest air pollution research findings at the bottom of this page.

What Are The Causes of Air Pollution in Ghana?

Ambient air pollution in Ghana is characterized by natural and anthropogenic sources.

Climate variability, rapid urbanization, and trends in population growth in urban areas are having a tremendous impact on air quality in Ghana.

Major sources of outdoor air pollution in Ghana include:

Indoor air pollution kills just as many people as outdoor air pollution. Biomass-fueled cookstoves are the main culprits in many developing countries, including Ghana.

According to the State of Global Air Report 2019¹¹, more than 70% of people in Ghana use solid fuels such as charcoal and wood to cook food in open fires and inefficient cookstoves. 

How Does IQAir Collects Data?

IQAir AirVisual uses data collected from ground-based monitoring stations that measure levels of PM2.5, ultrafine particles of 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, which are known to pose serious risks to human health.

The data are collected from government monitoring stations as well as validated monitors operated by private individuals and organizations.

The report did not include measurements for gaseous air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ground-level ozone.

What Does IQAir AirVisual’s 2020 World Air Quality Report Say About Air Pollution in Ghana?

According to the IQAir AirVisual’s 2020 World Air Quality Report, Ghana averaged PM2.5 concentration of 26.9 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) during the period of the study. This exceeds the WHO recommended annual guideline of 5 µg/m3 (September 2021 WHO update).

PM2.5 annual concentration in Accra (Ghana’s capital city) in 2016 was 11 times — 55 μg/m3 — above the safe limits recommended by the WHO. 

Ghana’s annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 in 2016 was 31.1 µg/m3, more than 6 times above the safe limits recommended by the WHO.

See the WHO most recent global air pollution database here.

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The World Bank widget above — with some missing data values — shows Ghana’s PM2.5 mean annual exposure between 1990 and 2017. The annual mean concentrations of 35 µg/m3 (2017) above is 7 times above the safe limits recommended by the WHO.

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Ghana’s dirty air is the 24th worst in the world, according to the IQAir 2020 report. Immediately below Iran, but worse than Saudi Arabia, both renowned for airborne particulate matter from dust storms¹². Severe dust storms frequently blanket certain parts of Iran and Saudi Arabia, making air quality worse.

The Iranian city of Zabol near the border with Afghanistan was rated the most polluted city (PM2.5) in the world in 2016 by the WHO.

Which Countries Had The Most And Least Polluted Air in The World?

Bangladesh (77.1 μg/m3) had the dirtiest air in the world, followed by Pakistan (59.0 μg/m3), India (51.9 μg/m3) and Mongolia (46.6 μg/m3). 

Puerto Rico, New Caledonia, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Sweden recorded the lowest PM2.5 pollution in the world.

Which Regional Capital Cities Had The Dirtiest Air According To The Report?

Next to Bamako, the latest report ranked Accra the second regional capital city with the worst air pollution in Africa.

Accra was ranked the 21st regional capital city with the worst air pollution worldwide.

Delhi, India’s capital city, and Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, were respectively rated as having the worst air pollution among all regional capital cities in the world.

Cities With The Worst Air Pollution in The World

Nine of the world’s top 10 cities with the worst air pollution were in India — the 2020 report.

Below are IQAir AirVisual’s 2020 World Air Quality Report’s 13 cities with the worst air pollution in the world:

1. Hotan, China
2. Ghaziabad, India
3. Bulandshahr, India
4. Bisrakh Jalalpur, India
5. Bhiwadi, India
6. Noida, India
7. Greater Noida, India
8. Kanpur, Pakistan
9. Lucknow, India
10. Delhi, India
11. Faridabad, India
12. Meerut, India
13. Jind, India

Ghaziabad had the dirtiest air worldwide in 2019. You can download 2019 report here -> IQAir Airvisual’s 2019 World Air Quality Report.

Nigeria’s northern city of Kano¹³ had the dirtiest air in Africa in the 2018 report.

Air Pollution And Air Quality Monitoring Data in Ghana and Africa

Air quality monitoring data were lacking in many developing regions, particularly in Africa and South America. 

Many countries in Africa do not measure the air they breathe.

In Africa, data was only available for Algeria, Angola, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, South Africa, and Uganda.

Data on outdoor PM2.5 was only available for 8 of 47 countries in the WHO African Region for the latest Global Ambient Air Quality Database (2018).

There were only 4 installed IQAir monitors in Ghana, all in the Greater Accra Region. The monitors were installed by private individuals and organizations.

“The participation of many groups and citizens who operate their own air quality monitors and have made this data publicly available, has increased data coverage significantly. If it were not for these valuable contributions, there would be no publicly available data in Angola, the Bahamas, Cambodia, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Latvia, Nigeria, Syria, and Ukraine, ” the report acknowledged.

The participation of many groups and citizens who operate their own air quality monitors and have made this data publicly available, has increased data coverage significantly. If it were not for these valuable contributions, there would be no publicly available data in Angola, the Bahamas, Cambodia, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Latvia, Nigeria, Syria, and Ukraine.

IQAir visual’s 2019 world air quality report

Ghana’s EPA does some air quality monitoring — only in some parts of the Greater Accra Region — but their data are not publicly accessible.

Ghana’s EPA does not issue air pollution alerts even when poor air quality is expected to impact health.

Read more about Ghana’s air pollution problems here:

RELAED: Air Pollution Killing More People in Ghana

RELATED: Air Pollution in Ghana: Causes, Effects & Solutions

Some Recent Air Pollution Research Findings

• Researchers¹⁴ from the University of Surrey have discovered that drivers in poorer cities are exposed to higher levels of in-car particulate pollution when they open their car windows for ventilation. Turning on the recirculation function exposed commuters to around 80 percent less fine particles than those who open their car windows, the study found.
  
  
• A new study has linked living near a highway (road traffic pollution) to dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and multiple sclerosis. The study was published in the journal Environmental Health.
  
  
• A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has associated elevated prenatal exposure to harmful air pollutants to mental health problems in children.
  
  
• This study in the journal Epidemiology has linked harmful air pollutants to brain cancer, for the first time.
  
  
• Researchers have found a strong link between air pollution and violent crime rates in certain parts of the US. The study was published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.
  
  
• Researchers have found a link between air pollution and early death in the US.
  
  
• Exposure to particulate air pollutants may lead to lower sperm production in mice, a study presented at the Endocrine Society’s 2019 annual meeting in New Orleans has found.
  
  
• Examining “16 years’ worth” of data from 68.5 million people, researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health¹⁵ have found a strong causal link between exposure to air pollution and early death in the US.

How would you tackle Ghana’s dirty air problems? Leave your comment below.

1. https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-countries
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3. https://www.atcmask.com/blogs/blog/air-pollution-in-nigeria
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5. https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(18)32154-X/pdf
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9. https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP3169
10. https://www.pnas.org/content/115/37/9193
11. https://www.stateofglobalair.org/sites/default/files/soga_2019_report.pdf
12. https://www.who.int/airpollution/events/conference/CAPH1_Plenary_session_III_4_AP_and_its_health_effects_in_EM_region_Narges_Khanjani.pdf
13. https://www.atcmask.com/blogs/blog/air-pollution-in-kano-nigeria
14. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896972034924X?via%3Dihub
15. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/29/eaba5692