Data

Share of paints with lead levels greater than 90 ppm

About this data

Source
International Pollutants Elimination Network (2021)processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 1, 2021
Date range
2009–2021
Unit
%

Sources and processing

International Pollutants Elimination Network – Lead concentrations in paint

The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) have collated studies on the concentration of lead in paint sold across low and middle-income countries. More than 100 studies have been conducted across 59 countries, involving the testing of more than 4,000 solvent-based paints.

These studies report the share of paints that have a lead concentration great than 90 parts per million (ppm); 600ppm and 10,000ppm of the dry weight of paint.

Lead paint is thought to be a significant contributor to lead poisoning; many countries have therefore implemented a regulatory limit of 90ppm or 600ppm for sold paints.

Retrieved on
September 1, 2021
Retrieved from
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) (2021). Lead concentrations in paint.

The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) have collated studies on the concentration of lead in paint sold across low and middle-income countries. More than 100 studies have been conducted across 59 countries, involving the testing of more than 4,000 solvent-based paints.

These studies report the share of paints that have a lead concentration great than 90 parts per million (ppm); 600ppm and 10,000ppm of the dry weight of paint.

Lead paint is thought to be a significant contributor to lead poisoning; many countries have therefore implemented a regulatory limit of 90ppm or 600ppm for sold paints.

Retrieved on
September 1, 2021
Retrieved from
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) (2021). Lead concentrations in paint.

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

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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: Share of paints with lead levels greater than 90 ppm”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from International Pollutants Elimination Network. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260512-085513/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.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:

International Pollutants Elimination Network (2021) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

International Pollutants Elimination Network (2021) – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of paints with lead levels greater than 90 ppm” [dataset]. International Pollutants Elimination Network, “Lead concentrations in paint” [original data]. Retrieved May 16, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260512-085513/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.html (archived on May 12, 2026).

Quick download

Download the data shown in this chart as a ZIP file containing a CSV file, metadata in JSON format, and a README. The CSV file can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets, and other data analysis tools.

Data API

Use these URLs to programmatically access this chart's data and configure your requests with the options below. Our documentation provides more information on how to use the API, and you can find a few code examples below.

Data URL (CSV format)
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false
Metadata URL (JSON format)
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false

Code examples

Examples of how to load this data into different data analysis tools.

Excel / Google Sheets
=IMPORTDATA("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")
Python with Pandas
import pandas as pd
import requests

# Fetch the data.
df = pd.read_csv("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false", storage_options = {'User-Agent': 'Our World In Data data fetch/1.0'})

# Fetch the metadata
metadata = requests.get("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false").json()
R
library(jsonlite)

# Fetch the data
df <- read.csv("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")

# Fetch the metadata
metadata <- fromJSON("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")
Stata
import delimited "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lead-paint-over-90ppm.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false", encoding("utf-8") clear