Pollution increased slightly in Southeast Asia in 2023, where the entire population breathed air with pollution levels that were more than 4 times higher than the WHO guideline. Across the region, air pollution reduces average life expectancy by 1.6 years, relative to what it would be if the WHO guideline were permanently met. In the 11 countries that make up this region, an estimated 1.1 billion total life years are lost due to air pollution.
Laos and Myanmar have seen the largest increase in pollution over the last decade—an increase of more than 10 percent. In Laos, pollution increased more than anywhere else in the region from 2022 to 2023—a 20 percent jump. Meanwhile, Myanmar remains the most polluted country in Southeast Asia, with residents losing 2.8 years of life expectancy relative to the WHO guideline. This is significantly more than the impact of other health threats in Myanmar, such as child and maternal malnutrition (1.1 years) or transport injuries (0.36 years).
In Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s most populous country, particulate concentrations reached their highest level since 2019. Indonesia’s entire population breathed air that did not meet the WHO guideline. Further, 72.9 percent of the country’s population breathed air that did not meet the country’s own standard. Particulate pollution is the greatest health threat in the country after smoking, more deadly than transportation injuries and child and maternal malnutrition.
In Thailand, pollution reached its highest level since 2015. It is also the greatest health threat in the country, with the impact on life expectancy greater than smoking, transport injuries and child and maternal malnutrition. At the provincial level, particulate pollution varies widely in Thailand, partly due to fires in Thailand’s northern region that have increased the amount of regional air pollution. As a result, residents of Chiang Rai could gain 3.5 years of their life expectancy, compared to the 1.6 years that residents of Bangkok could gain by breathing air that meets the WHO guideline.