The effect of chronic air pollution is equivalent to that of smoking and is significantly worse on average than that of HIV/AIDS or terrorism on worldwide life expectancy, according to research released on Tuesday.
It is estimated that over 97 percent of the world’s population lives in locations where air pollution exceeds the acceptable threshold, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) in its 2017 Air Quality Life Index.
Life expectancy would grow by an average of 2.2 years if worldwide PM2.5 levels were decreased to the five micrograms per cubic metre suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the report, air pollution has been ignored as a public health concern, and money to address the problem is still lacking.
“There is a greater argument for governments to highlight pollution as an important policy problem now that our knowledge of pollution’s effect has grown,” Christa Hasenkopf, director of EPIC’s Air Quality Life Index, said.
More than half the rise in air pollution throughout the globe since 2013 comes from India alone, which accounts for about five years of life loss in South Asia, according to new research.
Life expectancy in China has increased by two years since 2013 when the nation launched a “war on pollution” that reduced PM2.5 levels by about 40 percent, but WHO standards would extend life expectancy by 2.6 years.
“Previous research has shown that an extra 10 micrograms per cubic metre of PM2.5 would shorten life expectancy by approximately a year. EPIC’s estimates were made using this data.”
According to a study of pollution statistics released earlier this year, not a single nation will reach the WHO’s 5-microgram benchmark in 2021.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ aimen.bukhari@tti.org.pk
