April 22 (UPI) -- More than 152 million people in the United States - about 44%-- live in areas that have unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, the American Lung Association said in the 2026 State of the Air report released Wednesday.
The report also noted that 44.6% of U.S. children live in counties that have failing grades for at least one measure of air pollution,while 10% of children live in counties with failing grades in all three measures. These measures include ground-level ozone (smog) and both short-term and year-round particle pollution (soot).
"Infants, children and teens are especially vulnerable to the health harms of breathing pollution," the report said. "Their lungs are still developing, they breathe more air for their body size than adults and they frequently spend more time outdoors."
The report showed that trends from last year's edition continued and often grew worse, including extreme heat in many places that affected ozone levels and wildfires in Canada that affected ozone and particle pollution.
"Clean air is not something we can take for granted," American Lung Association President Harold Wimmer said in announcing the report, the Washington Post reported. "For decades, people in the U.S. have breathed cleaner air thanks to the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, that process is now at risk due to extreme heat and wildfires, fueled by climate change, and policy changes that are making the problem worse."
