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Reuters

Air pollution, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, is cutting global life expectancy by an average of 1.8 years per person, making it the world’s top killer, researchers said on Monday.
The tiny particles ingested from polluted air shorten life more than first-hand cigarette smoke, which can reduce it by 1.6 years, and are more dangerous than other public health threats such as war and HIV/Aids, they said.

The University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) shows people in parts of India, the world’s second-largest country by population, could live 11 years less due to high levels of air pollution.
Life expectancy averages slightly below 69 in the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion, according to the World Bank.
The researchers launched a website that tells users how many years of life air pollution could cost them according to which region of a country they live in.
Air pollution is killing 1 million people and costing Chinese economy 267 billion yuan a year
The index seeks to transform hard-to-comprehend data into “perhaps the most important metric that exists – life”, Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), said in a statement.
Particulate pollution is normally measured in micrograms per cubic meter.
“The fact that this AQLI tool quantifies the number of years I and you have lost to air pollution makes me worried,” Kalikesh Singh Deo, an Indian member of parliament, said in a statement shared by EPIC.

China and Indonesia are also among the countries where microscopic particles floating in the air hit residents the hardest, cutting their life expectancy by as much as seven years and five and a half years respectively, the website shows.
Other studies have previously looked into the number of people who may die prematurely because of air pollution.
Air pollution in Hong Kong posing serious health risk to residents as toxic cloud hangs over city
But the EPIC scientists hope the website – the first of its kind, according to the institute – will make the consequences of policies that promote dirty energy more tangible, and encourage reforms that promote better air quality.
Only a handful of India’s 100 most polluted cities have drawn up plans to combat air pollution despite being asked to do so three years ago, a report from the World Health Organisation said earlier this year.


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Environment

Air pollution deadlier than smoking, war and Aids, reducing worldwide lifespan by 1.8 years, study says

A man wearing a mask walks through the central business district of Beijing blanketed by heavy smog last Wednesday. Photo: AP

epa07164106 Tourists walk outside the Forbidden City on a hazy day in Beijing, China, 14 November 2018. Air pollution hit Beijing on 14 November with PM 2.5 fine particle air quality index exceeding 300 points, reaching the level-six category. EPA-EFE/WU HONG

epa07164411 Damp and smoke floats above Salgotarjan, Hungary, 14 November 2018. According to reports, the level of air pollution is on unhealthy level in the capital and in four other cities in the country. Due to the high concentration of airborne dust particles sixteen other municipalities have discommended air quality. EPA-EFE/PETER KOMKA HUNGARY OUT

News

World

Asia

Air pollution is reducing lifespans in China by seven years and in India by 11 years, according to the startling study


Air pollution deadlier than smoking, war and Aids, reducing worldwide lifespan by 1.8 years, study says

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Air pollution is reducing lifespans in China by seven years and in India by 11 years, according to the startling study

Air pollution is reducing lifespans in China by seven years and in India by 11 years, according to the startling study