Environment international

Worldwide changes in how much outdoor artificial light people are exposed to at night and future predictions

Updated

Abstract

The population exposed to light emissions increased from 4.3 billion in 2000 to 6.3 billion in 2020.

  • 88% of the growth in exposure occurred in areas with medium to high light emissions, primarily suburban and urban regions.
  • 73% of the increase in exposure to high light emissions, mostly found in urban areas, is linked to population growth and migration.
  • For medium light emissions, predominantly in suburban areas, 63% of the increase in exposure is associated with rising radiance.
  • By 2050, nearly 70% of the projected growth in exposure will be in medium to high light emission areas.
  • Potential increased disease burden and actions to mitigate light growth may be necessary.

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Funding

Competing interests

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
PubMed

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