Environmental Inequalities Assessment in Exposure to Urban Air Pollution in 22 Districts of Tehran City in 2012

The aim of present study was to assess environmental inequality in long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution in 22 districts of Tehran in 2012.
The present study is an ecological study and concentration index was used for assessment of inequality. In this study the amounts of pollutant concentrations (PM10, NO2, SO2) obtained were based on land use regression (LUR) for exposure assessment. Variables that their effects have been studied on the distribution of exposure to pollutants included: education level, employment status and car ownership, which were obtained from census demographic and Tehran Municipality's dataset.
The concentration index for PM10 in the case of illiteracy, people with higher education and private car owners was 0.059 (0.004-0.113), -0.056 (-0.001- -0.110) and -0.079 (-0.031- -0.127), respectively. These relationships were statistically significant. Concentration index for PM10 was 0.016 for the workers population, which was not statistically significant. For NO2 and SO2, no inequality was found in illiterate people, people with higher education, employees and car owners.
This study showed that there was significant inequality in terms of exposure to PM10 between different regions of Tehran in the illiterate, people with higher education and car owners. Considering these subgroups of population can be helpful in policy-making process.