Peru: PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-2 value (% of total)

Key figures

Over five years it is down 26.84 percentage points from 66.07% in 2012. Since 1990 it is down 20.32 percentage points from 59.55% in 1990. The World Bank has no value for 16 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

From 2010 to 2017 the straight-line trend is downward, about 5.75 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 96% of the movement over 8 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2017, Peru had the 82nd highest value of the 194 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Peru in the 2017 ranking

• Serbia — 78th of 194: 48.22%
• South Africa — 79th of 194: 42.48%
• Kyrgyz Republic — 80th of 194: 42.44%
• El Salvador — 82nd of 194: 34.81%
• Botswana — 83rd of 194: 34.43%
• Georgia — 84th of 194: 32.43%

What this measures

Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Target 2 (IT-2) is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 25 micrograms per cubic meter. The Air Quality Guideline (AQG) of 10 micrograms per cubic meter is recommended by the WHO as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.

Limitations: Pollutant concentrations are sensitive to local conditions, and even monitoring sites in the same city may register different levels. Direct monitoring of PM2.5 is still rare in most parts of the world, and measurement protocols and standards are not the same for all countries. These data should be considered only a general indication of air quality, intended to inform cross-country comparisons of the health risks due to particulate matter pollution. The guideline set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for PM2.5 is that annual mean concentrations should not exceed 10 micrograms per cubic meter, representing the lower range over which adverse health effects have been observed.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 12 values

PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-2 value (% of total) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 0% (2017)
• Argentina — 3.58% (2017)
• Bahamas, The — 0% (2017)
• Barbados — 0% (2017)
• Belize — 2.69% (2017)
• Bolivia — 24.51% (2017)
• Brazil — 4.7% (2017)
• Chile

More environment data for Peru

• Population in largest city — 11.52 million (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 38.91% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million — 11.52 million (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 33.31% (2025)
• Rural population — 4.98 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 14.4% (2025)
• Urban population — 29.6 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 85.6% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 117,620 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Peru's PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-2 value (% of total)?

39.23% in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 20.32 percentage points from 59.55% in 1990. The highest value was 73.5% in 2005 and the lowest 39.23% in 2017.

How does Peru rank?

82nd highest of 194 economies with data for 2017.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Brauer, M. et al. 2017, for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017..

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator EN.ATM.PM25.MC.T2.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Brauer, M. et al. 2017, for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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