Bad air kills 6.2 lakh Indians every year: WHO

More than 6,20,000 Indians are killed by air pollution every year, making India the world’s second worst country to live in after China, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has noted. China tops the list with an annual death count of 10,32,833 followed by India  and the Russian Federation (1,40,851).

For India, the five air pollution related causes of sickness and death are ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), stroke, acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRI) and lung cancer.

The global health agency, for years, had warned how lakhs of people all over the world were choked to death by tiny particles emitted by cars, power plants and industrial units. For the first time, WHO broke down the death figures up to  country level.

“The new WHO burden of disease estimates shows that 94% of the premature deaths caused by air pollution are due to cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancers. The remaining are from acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age,” said regional director for WHO Southeast Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh.

Further segregation of the Indian data shows ischemic heart disease caused the maximum number of deaths (2,49,388) followed by stroke (1,95,001) and COPD (1,10,500).

The shares of lung cancer (26,334) and ALRI (39,914) are far less. India is the worst affected among the 11 countries in the WHO Southeast Asian region. The cleanest air and the least number of deaths are found to have occurred in Maldives and Bhutan.

A team of WHO researchers, along with specialists from the University of Bath, the UK, carried out the analysis using data collected from 3,000 locations, both rural and urban. Raw data collected by pollution monitors on the ground, computer modelling and satellite readings were used.

The researchers looked at exposure to tiny particulates — 2.5 microns in size — known as PM2.5, which penetrate the lungs and are strongly associated with an increased risk of death.

Nearly 90% of air pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, with nearly two out of three deaths occurring in WHO’s Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions.

However, the global map of deaths caused by PM2.5 changed when the death count per 1,00,000 people was compared.