Unveiling Pakistan's Air Pollution

Pakistan is in the grip of a public health emergency. Toxic air pollution reduces the life expectancy of the average Pakistani by 3.9 years. In Lahore, the crisis epicentre, residents lose an average of 7 years of life to the air they breathe.

For decades, a lack of credible, localised data has enabled a cycle of policy inaction, allowing this invisible killer to compromise the health of an entire generation and undermine the nation’s economic vitality. This report ends the era of speculation. It provides the first comprehensive, multi-sectoral emissions inventories for Pakistan’s major urban airsheds, moving beyond debate to deliver a definitive, data-driven diagnosis of the crisis and a clear blueprint for action.

Key findings

• Lahore: Annual PM2.5 is 21× the WHO guideline. Transport (35%), industry (28%), and brick kilns (17%) drive the crisis. Not a single day of clean air in 2024.
• Karachi: Industry accounts for 49% of PM2.5 emissions — the highest industrial share of any city studied. Ports and shipping add a unique coastal burden.
• Islamabad-Rawalpindi: Transport dominates at 53%. Urban sprawl and poor planning have turned the twin cities into a vehicle emissions trap.
• Peshawar: Highest per-capita pollution burden. Transit trade, brick kilns, and geographic trapping concentrate emissions.

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Suggested Citation: Omar, A. (Ed.). (2025). Unveiling Pakistan’s Air Pollution: A National Landscape Report on Health Risks, Sources and Solutions. Pakistan Air Quality Initiative.

ISBN 978-627-7928-03-2 (print) · ISBN 978-627-7928-02-5 (electronic) · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17629179

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).