Environment

World Health Organization Says Lima has Worst Air Pollution in LatAm

Lima worst air pollution in Latam (image public transportation in Lima)

Peru’s imposing capital of Lima has the worst air pollution of all Latin American cities, according to a recent study by the World Health Organization.

The WHO report, which analyses 1,600 cities in 91 countries, found that only 12 percent of the world’s urban population breathes clean air.

The director of public health and the environment at the WHO, Maria Neira, said that the situation has deteriorated in almost all cities that were part of the study, especially in developing countries, according to daily Peru.21.

The study looked at the level of fine particles, known as PM 2.5, that are in the air and that are harmful to human health.

Health experts measure air quality by qualifying air as clean if there are less than 10 micrograms of fine particles per square meter. If there are more, the air is considered contaminated and harmful to health.

In Lima, a city of nine million people and nestled between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, the average level of micrograms is 38, according to the WHO.

According to CIES, a consortium of 48 economic and social research institutions in Peru, the high pollution rate has caused over 5000 deaths between 2007 and 2011, 80% of which were  directly attributable to pollution from public transport. 

Although the WHO report does also indicate that pollution levels have improved in Lima in recent years, it still shows that levels are extremely high. According to the report, the most polluted parts of the city are in the northern cone (Ventanilla, Puente Piedra, San Martín de Porres), where the level of pollution reaches 58 micrograms, while in eastern Lima the level is 36 and in the south it is 29.

Last year, the National Statistics Institute, INEI, reported that the most polluted districts in Lima were Ate and El Agustino in the east. Other districts with bad air pollution included Villa Maria del Triunfo, Santa Anita, Jesus Maria and, surprisingly, San Borja.

According to Luis Tagle, executive coordinator of the Clean Air Initiative committee for Lima and Callao, the principal causes of the city’s pollution are poor fuel quality and the vehicle fleet on the road that is more than 20 years old.

“Systems like the Metropolitano, which uses gas, or the Lima Metro [electric] have somewhat reduced pollution… but not entirely,” Tagle told La Republica.

Although used vehicles can no longer be imported, and the current city government has succeeded in removing many of the older public transport vehicles from the roads, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of private vehicles, creating heavy traffic congestion not only in the industrial and heavily populated areas but throughout the city.

14 Comments

  1. Helen Kalmar

    This article is old and should contain an update. There are still thousand of old vehicles in the capital and all buses exhume black smoke causing lung problems including bronchitis.

    Peru had in 1994 what was called the Pollution Police but nothing came of it

  2. SUSAN ISSLER

    I have traveled to many large cities, but never have I seen such traffic and pollution as your city. If Lima got a cut of the tourist dollar, perhaps they could come up with a mass transit system.

  3. I have never experienced something like this and I’m pretty shocked. I was unprepared for this. If I knew the air pollution would be this bad, I wouldn’t have come or stayed only for a day or two. Ever since I got lima(it’s been only a week) I’ve been having headache and I couldn’t breath at all sometimes. It was strange there was a beautiful ocean, but I couldn’t enjoy the view because the polluted air coming up from the road down the cliff. I don’t know how people here deal with this. Shouldn’t government step into the problem?

    • That’s exactly what I thought. I couldn’t breathe on the street even while I was in Cusco but Lima is way more polluted than I expected. Something needs to be done urgently… This is a worldwide problem.

  4. I’ve been coming to Lima regularly for 12 years and it’s hard to notice any improvement in the pollution. I will say that it’s not as bad as Jina indicates; however it’s at the point where I don’t look forward to my regular visits anymore. If you’re traveling to Peru once in a lifetime, Lima is worth 2 days of a 2 week trip. The pollution will be an annoyance that you’ll overlook thanks to the outstanding history, culture, and gastronomy.

  5. Lima is beautiful !!!

  6. Samuel L Jackson

    This article is a piece of shit

  7. garry pollack

    I took a deep breath…no problem here in the selva outside Iquitos!

  8. Peru is a very nice place. Been hanging out for six months, wish I could hang out longer but government and all. The article is right. Air in Lima sucks. And for a city of 9 million there are not that many cars. So best get on top of this because after you all add another couple of thousand dollars in nominal GDP per head. It is going to be China folks wearing dust mask except at the bank bad. Get ready to be responsible and well off. Go Peru. I really like you.

  9. Lived in Lima Peru for 3 years as my wife is Peruvian, decided to move to where I am from – better life and healthier living. Lima is extremely polluted – mainly noise and air. Its an amazing tourist destination but the real Peru is outside Lima. Traveled outside Lima and Peru during my 3 years, spoken to tourists mainly on their way out from a vacation in Peru and the majority say coming to ”Peru is cool but Lima is the worst” unless you are a San Isidro, Monterrico, Miraflores, Barranco or Surco resident. The real Peru is not found much in Lima. I won’t say how many times I fell ill while living here, what I have said suffices. Leave Lima then you see real Peruvian culture. The hot baths of Huazcaran 200km outside Lima are amazing and great camping areas Near Canta. I am now a Peruvian citizen so don’t need a passport to travel about in South America, there are many nice places, Lima is just really polluted. Property prices are also retarded, my Dad has been in property for upwards of 39 years suggested the same. Property prices in Lima are crazy high, prices outway property value by quite a bit. I bought land in La Selva, beautiful place and correctly priced.

  10. Lima is a city I have visited many times.The pollution there is a crime against humanity.it is the result of the non regulation ethic that business and competition must decide everything.Multiple private bus operators on every route are an example .Poor petrol quality and few catalytic converters,More and more truck like 4 wheel drives.Most people are just scraping by and will not be able to afford a new car.Weak and corruptible governments that focus on self preservation rather than the common good.They do manage to send corrupt former presidents to jail for lengthy spells.(Which other country can claim this?)The Limenios show amazing courage and forbearance in the face of all the pollution and there is no place more welcoming than Lima. Unfortunately some of the countryside is just as smoky some months of the year due to the unbelievably wide spread use of slash and burn agriculture in the Peruvian Amazon.

  11. This article has been a revelation and consolation. I just came back from Lima, where I went to join up with a group traveling to the Amazon Basin. Arrived two days prior to our meet-up, but by my sixth hour there I was already having breathing problems and coughing which grew more severe as the day and evening progressed. I’m mildly asthmatic, but use of my inhaler made little difference. I thought perhaps it was a cold (though I felt no cold-related symptoms such as sweats, shivers, etc). Decided to cancel my participation, so as to not infect the others and because we were headed to an area with little beyond the most basic of health care provision, and hundreds of miles from advanced care. As I was driven to the airport I observed the horrible traffic and fume-filled air that registered only briefly while walking through the more affluent neighborhoods of Miraflores and Barranco. By the time I arrived home to NYC ten hours later I was already starting to feel a little relief and now, 24 hours later, much of the condition has dissipated. My thanks to Peruvian Times for this article, and my heart goes out to the wonderful people of Ljma and Peru for the trials and tribulations to their health that they must endure.

  12. bob the builder

    CORONA TIME

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