Air pollution is responsible for at least a third of some of Ghana’s deadliest diseases, including stroke, lung cancer and neonatal deaths, according to the 2025 State of Global Air (SoGA) Country Profile.

The report reveals that 39% of all stroke deaths in Ghana are linked to air pollution. The same proportion, 39%, applies to ischemic heart disease deaths, while 66% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) deaths are attributable to polluted air.

The burden extends further: 33% of lung cancer deaths, 33% of lower respiratory infection deaths, and 33% of neonatal deaths are connected to air pollution exposure. Even diabetes is affected, with 20% of diabetes deaths linked to poor air quality.

Overall, air pollution claimed more than 32,000 lives in Ghana in 2023, accounting for nearly 14% of all deaths nationwide, making it the country’s second leading risk factor for death after high blood pressure. Of these, approximately 5,900 were children under 20, underscoring the severe toll on young and vulnerable populations.

The report, produced by the Health Effects Institute (HEI) in partnership with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), shows Ghana’s death rate from air pollution stands at 177 per 100,000 people, more than ten times higher than rates in high-income countries.

Breaking down the figures, Pallavi Pant, Head of Global Initiatives at HEI, said household air pollution remains the dominant driver.

“So if you look at the air pollution number overall, it's around 32,000,” she explained. “If we break it down… we see roughly about 10,000 deaths because of ambient air pollution and about 22,000 deaths from household air pollution. So I would say that household air pollution is still a huge part of what drives these large numbers.”

Household air pollution from burning wood and charcoal accounts for 71% of pollution-related deaths, while outdoor particulate matter, largely from vehicles, industry and waste burning, accounts for 29%.

Ghana’s annual average PM2.5 concentration stands at 28 µg/m³, nearly six times the WHO’s recommended guideline of 5 µg/m³. Pollution levels have risen by 17% between 2013 and 2023, reflecting worsening exposure despite increased awareness.

Pant noted that population growth and persistently high exposure levels are contributing to the rising burden.

“Ghana is no exception… where we see increases in the burden in line with exposures that continue to be very high,” she said. She added that while air quality improvements can happen quickly after interventions, “to see that translate into public health benefits can be a little bit of a longer process.”

The findings come as Ghana begins implementing the Environmental Protection (Air Quality Management) Regulations, 2025 (L.I. 2507), its first comprehensive legal framework for air pollution control.

Experts warn that without aggressive enforcement, clean energy investment, and access to safer cooking fuels, thousands more Ghanaians will continue to die prematurely, not from rare diseases, but from conditions increasingly driven by the air they breathe.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives. Funding was provided by the Clean Air Fund which had no say in the story’s content.