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The World Health Organisation issued a report on 12 May 2016 on Ambient Urban Air Pollution.

My video commentary on it was featured on the Daily Telegraph website at 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/12/uk-should-do-more-to-tackle-air-pollution-says-world-health-orga/

It is also available at https://youtu.be/ssRtuVrbbIE. The text (more or less verbatum) is below.

The report is a compilation of air quality data from 3000 towns and cities from 103 counties worldwide. The report focuses on particle pollution only, and does not consider other important urban air pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide.

It concludes that about one third of the population in the towns and cities studied have experienced an increase in particle pollution in the last five years, about one third have seen no change in particle pollution, and about one third have seen an improvement in particle pollution.

However, more than 80% of the population in the towns and cities studied experience air pollution that exceeds WHO guidelines. In low- and middle-income countries almost all (98%) cities larger than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet WHO limits for particle pollution.

For the United Kingdom, the report confirms that nearly 80% of the 52 reporting towns and cities in the UK have ultra-fine particle pollution levels that exceed the World Health Organisation’s guideline. These small particles cause significant health effects, so the report confirms that the UK government still has a very long way to go in bringing UK air quality into compliance with World Health Organisation guidelines and so protecting public health.