•  Air pollution shaved three years off average life expectancy, causing 8.8 million premature deaths per year on average. The damage was higher than those caused by smoking and diseases.
  • India was worse off with an average drop of 3.86 years in life expectancy due to air pollution. It caused 1.8 million premature deaths in 2015 — less than only in China. The country placed 19th among 181 vis-a-vis loss of life expectancy.
  • The average value of fine particulate pollution in India was nearly four times what World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines mentioned.
  • Transportation, construction and garbage burning contributes the air in India In urban India while burning biomass for cooking is significant in the villages.

ACCORDING TO A NATION-WIDE STUDY PUBLISHED IN JOURNAL LANCET IN 2019:

  • Most states, and 76.8 per cent of the population of India, were exposed to annual population-weighted mean PM2.5 greater than the limit recommended by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in India.
  • Indian cities have 60-80 per cent daily collection efficiency of garbage, which means that only increasing 20-40 per cent waste collection efficiency will reduce 10-20 per cent urban in-boundary air pollution.
  • Low-income countries anyway have a lower level of health care and people are more affected by air pollution.
  • In sub-Saharan Africa and parts of south Asia many children die from pneumonia induced by air pollution. This is not the case in Europe, North America and East Asia.
  • The highest mortality rates and loss in life expectancy were reported in east Asia, south Asia and Africa.
  • Although the mortality rate (deaths per 100,000 people per year) was higher for Europe (133) than south Asia (119), the loss in life expectancy for south Asia (3.9 years) was much higher than Europe (2.2 years).
  • The study also noted diseases reduced life expectancy at a lower rate compared to air pollution and smoking.
  • HIV/AIDS reduced life expectancy by 0.7 years, while malaria and other diseases carried by parasites reduced life expectancy by 0.6 years, according to the study.
  • All forms of violence, including deaths in wars, reduced life expectancy even lesser by comparison, to 0.3 years.
  • The study analysed the impacts of air pollution at the country-level using data from 2015 and a novel modelling approach to disentangle the effects from human-caused pollution and natural sources like dust.

THE IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH WERE DIVIDED (IN A DECREASING ORDER) INTO:

  1. Lower respiratory tract infection.
  2. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
  3. Lung cancer.
  4. Heart disease.
  5. Cerebrovascular disease leading to stroke
  6. Other non-communicable diseases (high blood pressure, diabetes, etc)