Data

Number of children with lead levels in blood greater than 5 µg/dL

What you should know about this indicator

Additional information about this data

Ericson et al. (2021) collated studies measuring lead blood concentrations in children and adults between 2010 and 2019. This analysis yielded 520 studies covering 1100 sampled populations with a total population of 1,003,455 people from 49 countries.

Children are defined as those aged 0 to 14 years.

Blood level concentrations are measured in µg/dL. There is no defined 'safe' level for lead blood concentrations. The WHO adopts a threshold of 5 µg/dL as an achievable maximum level in children.

Source

Ericson et al. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health. – processed by Our World in Data

Last updated

January 1, 2021

Date range

2019–2019

Unit

children

Links

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196%2820%2930278-3/fulltext

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Ericson et al. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health.

Data published by

Ericson, B., Hu, H., Nash, E., Ferraro, G., Sinitsky, J., & Taylor, M. P. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(3), e145-e153.

Retrieved on

January 1, 2021

Retrieved from

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196%2820%2930278-3/fulltext

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Number of children with lead levels in blood greater than 5 µg/dL”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from Ericson et al. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health.. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260512-085513/grapher/children-lead-5micrograms.html [online resource] (archived on May 12, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Ericson et al. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health. – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

Ericson et al. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health. – processed by Our World in Data. “Number of children with lead levels in blood greater than 5 µg/dL” [dataset]. Ericson et al. (2021). Blood lead levels in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health. [original data]. Retrieved May 12, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260512-085513/grapher/children-lead-5micrograms.html (archived on May 12, 2026).

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