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Breathing dirty air is as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes
Fine particle air pollution (PM2.5) carries a measurable health risk.
The science behind the cigarette comparison
The comparison between fine particle air pollution (PM2.5) and cigarettes is not about what is being inhaled.
It is about relative health risk.
Large population studies have shown a consistent relationship between long-term PM2.5 exposure and increased risk of premature death, similar in scale to the increased risk observed from smoking.
To make this invisible risk easier to understand, researchers translated PM2.5 concentrations into a cigarette-equivalent health impact.
Source: Berkeley Earth
At an annual average:
22 µg/m³ of PM2.5 ≈ the health risk of smoking 1 cigarette per day
What this means for cities
Applying the cigarette-equivalent framework to real-world air quality data helps translate abstract pollution numbers into something easier to grasp. When we look at annual average PM2.5 levels across major cities, we begin to see how everyday exposure can quietly add up over time.
What about your city?
Air quality varies significantly by region. You can check the annual average PM2.5 levels for your city by clicking the link below. Once you know your city's annual average PM2.5 level, enter it below to understand the equivalent of yearly health risk
*This reflects comparative health risk, not inhaled cigarette chemicals.
