Listen: How clean is your air?

Cars, factory fumes and residential heating – just three of the main factors contributing to outdoor air pollution across the UK. It is a topic the government and councils have been tackling for years with clean air zones, bike to work schemes and taxing the highest polluting companies.

But is the biggest threat to our health and lives coming from inside our own homes?

The evidence from a new global report shows the shocking extent of the air quality indoors, the study of indoor air quality has revealed the majority (85%) of people have experienced worse air quality in their home than they do outdoors over a six-month period, with January the worst month of the year for air quality.

The report from Dyson which collected data from more than 2.5 million Air Purifiers from 2022 to 2023 to landscape air quality in real homes across the world, found the UK’s indoor air pollution was worse than outdoor air pollution in 11 of the 12 months of the year. On a global level January has the highest averages of PM2.5 levels at 19.18, followed by March at 17.51.

Aston spoke to Ken Armstrong, head of air quality research at Dyson.