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Top 20 countries in population potentially affected by fluoride concentrations in groundwater greater than 1.5mg/L.
The following information comes from:
Podgorski, J., Berg, M. Global analysis and prediction of fluoride in groundwater. Nature Communications 13, 4232 (2022).
Read the full-text study at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31940-x (also in pdf)
Excerpts:
Table 1. Top 20 countries in population potentially affected by fluoride concentrations in groundwater greater than 1.5
mg/L.
| Rank | Country | Population at risk (range) | Rank | Country | Population at risk (range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (million) | (million) | ||||
| 1 | India | 49 (26–89) | 11 | Malawi | 4.0 (3.5–4.8) |
| 2 | China | 22 (1–50) | 12 | Zambia | 3.4 (1.4–3.6) |
| 3 | Dem. Rep. Congo | 15 (2–16) | 13 | Mozambique | 2.6 (1.7–3.4) |
| 4 | Ethiopia | 9.6 (4.0–13.8) | 14 | Angola | 2.2 (0.7–2.4) |
| 5 | Pakistan | 7.6 (2.3–14.5) | 15 | Afghanistan | 1.7 (0.5–4.8) |
| 6 | Kenya | 7.5 (4.2–8.3) | 16 | Cameroon | 1.6 (0.3–2.5) |
| 7 | Nigeria | 7.4 (1–17) | 17 | Madagascar | 1.4 (0.7–2.3) |
| 8 | Tanzania | 6.9 (3.7–7.9) | 18 | Chad | 1.2 (0.1–2.2) |
| 9 | Uganda | 4.8 (0.9–8) | 19 | Niger | 1.2 (0.2–2.6) |
| 10 | Yemen | 4.3 (2.6–4.4) | 20 | Myanmar | 1.1 (0.07–3.3) |
a Probability of naturally occurring fluoride in groundwater exceeding the WHO drinking water guideline of 1.5 mg/L. The map was developed by applying the final random forest model to the 12 most statistically important predictor variables. Panel b shows the fluoride data points (n = 402,452) used in analysis and modeling. Closer views of the global map are given for the western U.S. and Mexico (c), eastern South America (d), the southern half of Africa (e), and western South Asia (f). The data sources are listed in Supplementary Table 1 and a large-scale map of the fluoride points is shown in Supplementary Fig. 1 along with large-scale versions of the prediction map focused on each continent in Supplementary Figs. 3–8.
Two regions with large potentially affected populations for which only relatively few direct measurements of groundwater quality were available to constrain the model are China and Central Africa (Fig. 1b and Supplementary Fig. 1). The model also indicates a particularly elevated fluoride risk across much or most of Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as well as Yemen (Table 1). The at-risk population figures provide only a rough estimate of the actual number of people affected, which can only be verified by epidemiological studies on the ground. Nevertheless, Fig. 4 provides a meaningful broad-scale indication of where such investigations are most needed.
This study was funded by:
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs | Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation)
and the Swiss National Science Foundation
*Read full-text article at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31940-x
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*Read full-text article at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31940-x