Indicator Code: PM10
Objective: Environmental Health
Policy Category: Environmental Health
Subcategory: Air Pollution (Effects on Humans)
Indicator Short Name: Urban Particulates
Indicator Full Name: Population-weighted PM10 Concentration in Urban Areas
Indicator Description: Data for countries and aggregates for regions and income groups are urban-population weighted PM10 levels in residential areas of cities with more than 100,000 residents. The state of a country’s technology and pollution controls is an important determinant of particulate matter concentrations (WDI 2007); see: Pandey et al. (2006).
Units: micro-grams per cubic meter
Country Coverage: 186
Reference Year: 2004 or MRYA
Target: 20 micro-grams per cubic meter
Target Source: WHO guidelines
Short Source: WDI, 2007
Source: World Development Indicators, 2007, World Bank
Taiwan: Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management, EPA.
Source URL: http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline/old-default.htm
Methodology: PM10 data are acquired from modeling data. The model is based on reliable PM10 and TSP measurement with multiple determinants such as energy consumption, atmospheric and geographical factors, city and national population density, and others. Then concentration levels of each city are weighted according to their urban populations in residential areas of cities with more than 100,000 residents. The estimates represent the average annual exposure level of the average urban resident to outdoor particulate matter.
Additional Citations: Pandey, K.D., D. Wheeler, B. Ostro, U. Deichmann, K. Hamilton, and K. Bolt. (2006). “Ambient Particulate Matter Concentrations in Residential and Pollution Hotspot Areas of World Cities: New Estimates Based on the Global Model of Ambient Particulates (GMAPS),” World Bank, Development Research Group and Environment Department.