Six in ten Americans 'live in areas with poor air quality'

Research conducted by the American Lung Association (ALA) has analysed the air quality of the US' cities and concluded that six in ten Americans, or 186 million people, live in cities with unacceptable air quality which endangers their health.

The State of the Air report revealed that cities with the worst air quality include Los Angeles, Bakersfield in California and the Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Particle pollution, which is associated with traffic fumes, as well as ozone levels, were also taken into account. On the list of worst ozone-polluted areas, Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey featured in the top 25.

However, the Star-Ledger reports that the news was not all bad, as vice president of national policy and advocacy for the ALA Janice Nolen explained.

"The good news is that air pollution overall has gone down in the last ten years," she stated. "We are hopeful that we will continue to see improvements".

It seems that the US is not the only country experiencing difficulties with pollution. China's minister for environmental protection Zhou Shengxian said last week that managing air quality is becoming increasingly difficult in the Asian country.