South Korea Health Impact
Translate PM2.5 exposure into WHO exceedance and a simple cigarette-equivalent indicator. This pilot covers 100 eligible cities with OpenAQ-derived daily AQI history.
Search city analytics
South Korea health-impact overview
Same PM2.5. Three standards. Three verdicts.
Top 20 cities by cigarette-equivalent exposure
Using Berkeley Earth's 22 ug/m3 = 1 cigarette/day heuristic. Cigarette equivalence is a communication tool, not a clinical diagnosis.
| # | City | PM2.5 | Cigs/day | Life-yrs lost | Avg AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PyeongtaekGyeonggi | 19.0 ug/m3 | 0.9 | 1.4 y | 68 |
| 2 | SapkyoChungnam | 18.6 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.3 y | 67 |
| 3 | GimpoGyeonggi | 18.5 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.3 y | 68 |
| 4 | TangjinChungnam | 18.2 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.3 y | 67 |
| 5 | YanggokGyeonggi | 18.1 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.3 y | 65 |
| 6 | Hwasu-dongGyeonggi | 18.0 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.3 y | 66 |
| 7 | SihŭngGyeonggi | 17.9 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.3 y | 66 |
| 8 | IncheonIncheon | 17.5 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 66 |
| 9 | IksanJeonbuk | 17.5 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 65 |
| 10 | AnyangGyeonggi | 17.5 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 66 |
| 11 | AsanChungnam | 17.4 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 64 |
| 12 | Ich’ŏnGyeonggi | 17.4 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 64 |
| 13 | YŏjuGyeonggi | 17.4 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 64 |
| 14 | SeonsanChungbuk | 17.2 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 65 |
| 15 | GoyangGyeonggi | 17.1 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 64 |
| 16 | KunsanJeonbuk | 17.1 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 65 |
| 17 | SeoulSeoul | 16.9 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 63 |
| 18 | PongnamGyeonggi | 16.8 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 64 |
| 19 | YeonilGyeongbuk | 16.8 ug/m3 | 0.8 | 1.2 y | 65 |
| 20 | HanamGyeonggi | 16.5 ug/m3 | 0.7 | 1.1 y | 63 |
Methodology & sources
This page starts with OpenAQ PM2.5 and PM10 measurements mapped to AQI Now cities, then rolls daily city observations into city-level PM2.5 averages and US EPA AQI summaries. Health equivalents are screening indicators: useful for comparing exposure, not a clinical diagnosis.
Muller & Muller, Berkeley Earth (2015), derived from Pope et al. 2002 and cigarette risk factors.
EPIC Air Quality Life Index coefficient above the WHO annual PM2.5 baseline of 5 ug/m3.
WHO tiers shown here use AQG 15, IT-4 25, IT-3 37.5, IT-2 50, IT-1 75 ug/m3.
Methodology
The extractor maps OpenAQ monitoring locations to the nearest AQI Now city in the same country, aggregates PM2.5 and PM10 to daily city averages, and converts those concentrations to US EPA AQI. Country tool pages use only city summaries that satisfy the configured minimum daily coverage threshold.