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Socioeconomic inequalities in air pollutant exposure in Glasgow

This report examines environmental inequalities present in the Glasgow City Council area, specifically looking at two main pollutants, both of which come primarily from vehicle emissions: nitrogen oxides (NOX) and small particulate matter (PM2.5). These two pollutants are significant because they are either known to cause or highly correlated with a variety of health problems. Glasgow City is notable, because it is the most populated city in Scotland. It also – unsurprisingly – has the highest concentrations of these pollutants. It is also an interesting case study because of high rates of socioeconomic inequalities, which can influence health even further.

Health is the primary motivation for evaluating the relationship between air quality and markers of inequality, although this paper does not evaluate intercorrelations between air quality, inequality, and health. Instead, this paper evaluates rates of income inequality and ethnic makeup in Glasgow City data zones, and compares them to annual mean NOX and PM2.5 concentrations. This report also examines air pollution levels at state funded schools based on the proportion of pupils that are from ethnic minorities or living in deprived areas.

Key findings include:

  • People from ethnic minority backgrounds are significantly more likely to live in areas with the highest rates of NOX and PM2.5 concentrations.
  • Students from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to attend schools in areas with higher pollutant concentrations than white Scottish or British students.
  • Given changes in Glasgow’s ethnic demography, which has grown from 11.3% to 19.6% of the council’s population over the last ten years, this is an important area to monitor further.
  • There is not a clear relationship between neighbourhood income deprivation and air pollution, although the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods have significantly higher concentrations of NOX.

Authors

Allison is a Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. She specialises in health, socioeconomic inequality and labour market dynamics.

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