A new global study released today has revealed that both China and India were responsible for half of the total global attributable deaths from air pollution in 2017. Nearly 5 million deaths in 2017 were estimated due to long-term exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution, out of which 1.2 million deaths each reported from China and India. It has been noted by the State Of Global Air report 2019, produced by the Boston-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) that air pollution reduced life expectancy by 1 year and 8 months on average worldwide.
The ten countries with the highest mortality burden due to air pollution in 2017 are:
- China (1.2 million)
- India (1.2 million)
- Pakistan (128,000)
- Indonesia (124,000)
- Bangladesh (123,000)
- Nigeria (114,000)
- United States (108,000)
- Russia (99,000)
- Brazil (66,000)
- Philippines (64,000)
According to the report, there are many better-known risk factors such as malnutrition, alcohol use and physical inactivity, but air pollution is majorly responsible for more deaths. A new feature which has been added in this year’s report is the life-expectancy estimate. It also noted that in India where 60% of the population cooks with solid fuels has recorded the largest numbers of deaths (482,000) and followed by China (271,000).
(Image Courtesy: The Indian Express)