Air Pollution - Cities And FUAs

This dataset provides indicators of PM2.5, PM10 (particulate matter), ozone and nitrogen dioxide air pollution in FUAs and cities.

Data sources and methodology

Air pollution indicators use PlumLabs ( “Plume Labs by AccuWeather: Accurate Historical, Live, and Forecast Air Quality Data.” Plume Labs by AccuWeather: Accurate Historical, Live, and Forecast Air Quality Data, plumelabs.com/en/forecast-api/) gridded data. The available 0.1° by 0.1° resolution grids provide the estimated mean concentration of PM2.5, PM10, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Indicators provide an estimate of the population-weighted average pollutant concentration and the share of the population living in areas where pollutant concentrations exceed World Health Organization guidelines (5 μg/m³ for PM2.5, 15 μg/m³ for PM10, 60 μg/m³ for ozone, and 10 μg/m³ for nitrogen dioxide).

Defining FUAs and cities

The OECD, in cooperation with the EU, has developed a harmonised definition of functional urban areas (FUAs) to capture the economic and functional reach of cities based on daily commuting patterns (OECD, 2012). FUAs consist of:

1. A city – defined by urban centres in the degree of urbanisation, adapted to the closest local administrative units to define a city.
2. A commuting zone – including all local areas where at least 15% of employed residents work in the city.

The delineation process includes:

• Assigning municipalities surrounded by a single FUA to that FUA.
• Excluding non-contiguous municipalities.

The definition identifies 1 285 FUAs and 1 402 cities in all OECD member countries except Costa Rica and three accession countries.

Cite this dataset

OECD Regions, cities and local areas database (Air pollution - Cities and FUAs), http://oe.cd/geostats

Further information

• OECD Local Data Portal
• OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance

For questions and/or comments, please email CitiesStat@oecd.org