Air Pollution and Children's Health: Why Vulnerability Matters More Than Exposure Alone

Air pollution is widely recognized as a significant threat to public health, particularly for young children. Yet, recent research by Castillo et al. (2025) reveals that the burden of air pollution is not shared equally among all children. Drawing on comprehensive French administrative data encompassing 336,169 children born between 2008 and 2017, the study finds that children’s health risks from air pollution are strongly shaped by socioeconomic vulnerability and early-life health conditions—rather than pollution exposure alone.