Oceania largely meets the WHO guideline. Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are the only two countries in the region where pollution levels are higher than the guideline. An average resident of these countries could potentially gain 3.4 and 1.4 months of life expectancy, respectively, if pollution levels in these countries were brought down to meet the WHO guideline, adding 6.3 million years of life expectancy to the region’s population.
The most polluted region in Oceania is the North Fly district of Western province in Papua New Guinea. Here, an average resident could live 1.1 years longer if particulate concentrations were brought down to meet the WHO guideline. In Australia, Oceania’s most populous country and home to 60 percent of the region’s population, pollution is well below the WHO guideline.