A breath of toxic air
How unsafe levels of air pollution
puts UK children in danger
Air pollution is an invisible but dangerous threat to children’s health. Toxic emissions can damage children’s growth and leave them with lasting health problems. In 71% of UK towns and cities, children are breathing unsafe levels of air pollution. Around 1 in 3 babies are growing up in areas of the UK with unsafe levels of particulate matter – that’s nearly 270,000 babies under the age of 1 in the UK
This not only violates a child’s right to health, but also their future. It could impact their right to education, their right to play and ultimately, their right to life.
This Unicef UK paper analyses data from the World Health Organization and the Office of National Statistics to estimate the number of children growing up in areas with unsafe levels of particulate matter (PM2.5).
