Report: Air Pollution Is Slashing Years Off The Lives Of Billions, India And China Are Among Worst Polluters
Polluted air, primarily caused by coal burning, kills much more people than smoking or automobile accidents.
According to a recent report, dirty air is cutting the lives of billions of people worldwide by “up to six years”— also killing more people than HIV/Aids and coal burning is being pointed at as the main culprit.
The report said India is the worst affected by air pollution in the world, with its average citizen dying six years early. China, which is also among the biggest air polluters, has so far shown improved air quality over the years, but it’s polluted air is still slashing at least 2.6 years from the lifespan of its citizens.
Air pollution and the climate problem is now said to be caused by burning fossil fuel, but governments have more capacity to clean up the air within their own borders. Experts also said the climate issue is also now contributing to air pollution by causing wildfires, completing a “vicious circle.”
“Air pollution is the greatest external threat to human health on the planet, and that is not widely recognized, or not recognized with the force and vigor that one might expect,” said Professor Michael Greenstone at the University of Chicago.
Impact of air pollution on life expectancy
Greenstone along with his colleagues developed the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), which converts air pollution levels into their impact on life expectancy.
The professor noted that on average, individuals lose 2.2 years of life with the level of air pollution seen today and if nothing changes, the study noted that this impact would add up to 17 billion lost years.
“What else on the planet is causing people to lose 17bn years of life?” Greenstone and his colleagues wrote. “Furthermore, we’re not just letting it happen, we’re actually causing it.”
“The most striking thing is that there are big countries where, effectively, a combination of the government and [societal] norms are choosing to allow people to live really dramatically shorter and sicker lives,” the experts lamented, noting that pollution in many countries have already been cut by transitioning to cleaner energy.
The report calculated how many more years individuals would gain if each country’s air pollution levels were decreased to World Health Organization recommendations.
The number for India is 5.9 years, according to the experts as 480 million people in the country’s north breathe pollution that is 10 times worse than anyplace else on the planet.
In Bangladesh and Nepal, reducing pollution would add 5.4 years, and in Pakistan, 3.9 years.
The effects of particle pollution on life expectancy in Central and West Africa are equivalent to HIV/AIDS and malaria, but receive considerably less attention, according to the research. The typical individual in the Niger delta, for example, will lose over six years of life, compared to 3.4 years for the average Nigerian.
Coal is the problem
“Coal is the source of the problem in most parts of the world,” Greenstone said. “If these [health] costs were embedded in prices, coal would be uncompetitive in almost all parts of the world.”
The research also noted that fossil gas is “significantly less polluting” than coal.
The AQLI report is based on studies that compared the death rates of persons living in more and less polluted areas, with heart and lung diseases being the leading cause of premature death.
The study is centered on tiny particle pollution, but other air pollutants are likely to be included because they are all present in high concentrations in the same areas. Satellite data with a resolution of 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) was used to calculate global air pollution estimations.
