Facts and figures

Children are NOT small adults:

• In relation to their body weight, children have a larger skin surface area and consume more food.

• Depending on their age, children have a higher metabolic rate than adults.

• Children suffer the most from the harmful effects of air pollution

• Children breathe in faster and in proportion to their body weight more pollutants than adults

• In infancy, the lungs are very susceptible to damage from environmental pollutants, including those from wood burning.

• 80% of the alveoli are formed after birth

• Children’s lungs continue to develop after birth until puberty.

• Pollutants that are only broken down slowly have a longer effect on children.

• Infant mortality increases on days with increased particle pollution – although there is no lower limit at which the risk is not increased

• 25 % – the decrease in probability of a successful pregnancy if a district heating system powered by pellets or wood is located 100 meters from the fertility clinic.

• 9000 – the number of visits to the emergency room that can be prevented with one less wood heater per hectare.

• 7% – the increase of hospital stays of children under 3 years of age per additional wood heating per hectare.

• Exposure to particulate matter, especially from burning wood in homes, is associated with increased ear infections in young children.