Annual mean population exposure to wildfire smoke (PM₂.₅)

This statistic estimates how much fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) people are exposed to that is specifically attributable to wildfire (landscape fire) smoke, averaged over a year and weighted by where people live within each country. Unlike total PM₂.₅ (which includes traffic, industry, dust, etc.), this isolates the smoke component—useful for understanding climate- and land-management-linked air quality risks.

The underlying approach used in leading global datasets combines satellite observations of smoke and aerosols, chemical transport modeling, and population grids to attribute PM₂.₅ concentrations to wildfire smoke, then aggregates to national means. Values tend to be highest in parts of equatorial Africa (frequent biomass burning), boreal regions during intense fire seasons, and downwind countries during major regional smoke episodes.