{"id":866647,"date":"2026-07-26T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=866647"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:34:07","slug":"the-province-in-south-africa-with-the-worst-air-pollution-killing-16000-per-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/866647\/the-province-in-south-africa-with-the-worst-air-pollution-killing-16000-per-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The province in South Africa with the worst air pollution – killing 16,000 per year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Air pollution in South Africa causes thousands of deaths, and levels in Gauteng are among the worst in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research from the Centre for Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed that exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) contributed to an estimated 42,000 deaths per year in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest research from the Finland-based CREA showed that 1,300 deaths of children five and under were also caused by air pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CREA estimates that South Africa records an estimated total annual economic cost of health impacts of R960 billion, which accounts for around 14% of GDP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This economic cost factors in days of work missed, medical payments, and investments in children that do not come to fruition, such as education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CREA’s Kamie Kelly, who leads its Health Impact Assessment team, said that South Africa’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards are already significantly more lenient than those of India and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the leeway given by the standards, South Africa already massively exceeds these targets. If the standards were met, an estimated 9,300 PM2.5-related deaths and R225 billion in economic damage would be avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is notable is that health impacts are not equally distributed across South Africa, with Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Mpumalanga accounting for the vast majority of deaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng records 16,000 deaths, given the province’s urban and industrial emissions, as well as industrial activity in Mpumalanga. KZN recorded 7,000 deaths per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Highveld Priority Area, which is home to several coal power stations and Sasol operations across Gauteng and Mpumalanga, recorded 5,600 deaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Highveld Priority Area is among the most polluted areas globally, with large amounts of toxic nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly noted that the concentration of air pollution in the Highveld makes South Africa unique, as it remains heavily concentrated in one area of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Kelly said the UK has a relatively even distribution of industrial activity across the country, South Africa’s polluting industry is heavily concentrated in a single area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that air pollution in the Highveld area is so severe that it can be detected from space. However, he said that air pollution levels in the southern parts of the country are relatively good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CREA is not the only organisation to highlight poor air quality in the northern provinces, with IQAir<\/a> noting that Johannesburg was the world’s most polluted city in May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Province<\/strong><\/td>Total Deaths Caused by Air Pollution<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Gauteng<\/td>16 000<\/td><\/tr>
Kwazulu-Natal<\/td>7 000<\/td><\/tr>
Mpumalanga<\/td>3 600<\/td><\/tr>
North West<\/td>3 600<\/td><\/tr>
Limpopo<\/td>3 600<\/td><\/tr>
Eastern Cape<\/td>3 100<\/td><\/tr>
Western Cape<\/td>2 300<\/td><\/tr>
Free State<\/td>2 200<\/td><\/tr>
Northern Cape<\/td>790<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Source: CREA <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: CREA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

South Africa is heading in the wrong direction <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

CREA said that if South Africa were able to meet the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for PM2.5, over 30,000 lives and R700 billion could be saved annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If South Africa were to meet its own air quality standards, Gauteng’s death toll would drop by 44% and Mpumalanga’s by 16%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, KZN would only see a minor drop, from 7,000 deaths to 6,800, which CREA said highlights the need to meet the WHO’s goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of major concern to environmental NGOs and activists is the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) new Integrated Resources Plan (IRP), which aims to extend the use of coal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IRP calls for extending the operating lifetimes of 10 Eskom-operated coal-fired power plants, with some plants running for at least an additional decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Delaying the phase-out is projected to result in 32,000 additional premature deaths between 2026 and 2050,” said CREA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng would be the most affected region by the extended use of coal, with an estimated 15,200 additional deaths, almost half of the total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mpumalanga is projected to see an additional 4,800 deaths, given that it hosts the most coal capacity, while KZN would see an additional 5,600 deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CREA said that children would bear a larger burden, with a delayed phase-out leading to an estimated 41,000 more pre-term births, 17,000 new childhood asthma cases and 370 deaths for children under five. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimated economic cost of these health impacts is also about R721 billion, placing a larger burden on healthcare systems and the wider economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Delaying coal phase-out is a policy choice with severe public health and economic consequences,
while diverting resources from cleaner energy alternatives,” said CREA. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from the Finland-based CREA highlights the R960 billion economic impact of air pollution on South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":866686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2081379268441911369","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164],"class_list":["post-866647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866647"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":866703,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866647\/revisions\/866703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}