Auckland's air quality

Every Aucklander breathes in an average 11,000 litres of air everyday.

Auckland's air quality is relatively good but, despite this, pollution is seriously affecting the health of the region:

• 436 premature deaths due to air pollution per year, with 58% of these (253) are due to motor vehicle emissions
• asthma is the fourth highest cause of hospitalisation in the region
• the Auckland region has one of the highest asthma rates in the world, with:
       - 12% to 23% of adults are asthmatic
       - 25% of children are asthmatic.

The health effects from air pollutants are a major concern in the Auckland region because of the prevalence of respiratory and heart disease. Overall, the highest cause of death in the region is coronary heart disease. Any increase in the rate of hospitalisation or the use of medications due to air pollution is a huge cost to society.

Air pollution also causes degraded visibility, brown hazes and smog, which could seriously affect our 'clean green' image, potentially affecting tourism and export earnings.

Making a change - the ARC and you

The ARC carry out various work to monitor, educate, control and hopefully reduce the amount of pollutants in the air we breathe:

• what is the ARC doing to reduce air pollution?
• what can I do to reduce air pollution?