Seven million people died from air pollution in 2010, according to new data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, published in the medical journal Lancet. The research found that indoor air pollution killed 3.5 million people in 2010, outdoor air pollution 3.3 million, and ground level ozone pollution 200,000 people.
“Air pollution is becoming one of the biggest health issues we have in front of us at the moment,” Maria Neira, the WHO’s Director of Public Health and Environment, told a Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) meeting in Paris, France this weekend. Neira employed the recent statistics to highlight the scale of the problem to the coalition, which focuses on combating short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon.
Notably, over a third of the deaths due to outdoor air pollution occurred in China, which accounts for 1.2 million of the mortalities. Outdoor air pollution was the fourth highest killer in China after diet, high-blood pressure, and smoking reports the New York Times.
India comes in second for outdoor air pollution-related deaths. In 2010, around 620,000 Indians died prematurely due to outdoor air pollution.
CITATION: Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet. 2013.
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