The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago has reported that air pollution is costing the average person 2.2 years of life — more than the risk of smoking, alcohol use, unsafe water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS and conflict and terrorism
As per the report, Delhi’s PM 2.5 level measured 107.6, over 10 times the WHO’s safe limit. AFP
Air pollution is a killer.
The latest report by the Energy Policy Institute of University of Chicago (EPIC) has stated that air pollution in Delhi has shortened lives by 10 years. The report added that the average Indian life expectancy is shortened by five years at current air quality levels.
According to the report, the Indo-Gangetic plain is the most polluted region in the world and over half a billion people from Punjab to West Bengal are on track to lose 7.6 years of life expectancy on average, if current pollution levels persist.
That is much more than diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS or even smoking.
Speaking on the matter of air pollution across the world, Michael Greenstone, one of the authors of the report, was quoted as saying, “It would be a global emergency if Martians came to Earth and sprayed a substance that caused the average person on the planet to lose more than two years of life expectancy.”
“This is similar to that situation that prevails in many parts of the world, except we are spraying the substance, not some invaders from outer space.”
We decode what the report stated and how much of a worry is air pollution for India?
On India
The report says that India’s 1.3 billion people live in areas where the “annual average particulate pollution level” exceeds the World Health Organization (WHO) safe limit of 5ug/m?.
It also stated that some 510 million people who live in northern India — nearly 40 per cent of the country’s population — are “on track” to lose 7.6 years of their lives on average, given the current pollution levels.
India’s pollution levels can be attributed to “industrialisation, economic development, and population growth”, apart from a four-fold rise in road vehicles since the early 2000s.
As per findings in the report, Delhi’s PM 2.5 level measured 107.6, over 10 times the WHO’s safe limit of just five.
Incidentally, PM 2.5 is an extremely tiny particulate matter made of toxic substances which settles deep in the lungs and other organs, beating the body’s defences.
The report added that reducing pollution levels to WHO standards would mean that an estimated 240 million people in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh would gain 10 years in life expectancy.
Shockingly, since 2013, about 44 per cent of the global pollution has come from India — currently the second most polluted country in the world.
The report also acknowledged efforts taken by the government to fight air pollution. In 2019, government launched its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) with a goal to reduce particulate pollution by 20 to 30 per cent, relative to 2017 levels, by 2024.
While NCAP targets are non-binding, experts say, if India were to achieve and sustain this reduction, it would lead to remarkable health improvements.
Air — deadly killer
The EPIC report once again puts the spotlight on the issue of air pollution and the many dangers its poses.
A Lancet report of 2019 had stated that 16.7 lakh people died in India alone due to air pollution. This was the largest number of air pollution-related deaths in any country.
Similarly, a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of IQAir data reported that air pollution had claimed around 54,000 deaths in Delhi in 2020. That report had stated that the air pollutant levels in Delhi remained almost six times above the prescribed WHO limits.
According to a report by the think tank Observer Research Foundation, industrial pollution and vehicular emissions are some of the greatest factors accounting for toxic air the whole year round. However, in the months of October and November, the pollution grows still more intense because of farmland fires.
Other findings by the report
Besides India, the EPIC report also spoke of air pollution across the world.
The report said that air pollution was the worst in Bangladesh, where life expectancy reduced by 6.9 years in 2020 due to poor air, followed by Nepal (4.1 years), Pakistan (3.8 years) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2.9 years).
“In no area of the world is the stubborn nature of the pollution challenge more evident than in South Asia, where despite economic slowdowns due to the pandemic, pollution continued to rise in 2020,” read the report.
It further stated that South Asia accounted for more than half, 52 percent, of the expected lost life years globally due to high pollution.
With inputs from agencies
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