In South Asia, people could live an average of five years longer if particulate matter pollution did not exceed the limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the air quality report from the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.
Fine dust particles, which are smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) and are therefore about the diameter of a human hair, penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream. This causes numerous cases of lung and heart disease. According to the US study, life expectancy in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with their 300 million inhabitants, will be reduced by eight years, and in the Indian capital New Delhi by as much as ten years.
According to the WHO, the PM2.5 concentration in the air should not exceed 15 micrograms per cubic meter within 24 hours. Because of the increasing evidence of the harmful effects of particulate matter pollution, the WHO changed this limit value last year for the first time since the publication of its guidelines for air quality in 2005.
According to the recently published Air Quality Life Index of the University of Chicago, this limit value is exceeded in almost all regions of the world, but most extreme in Asia: in Bangladesh by a factor of 15, in India by a factor of ten and in Nepal and Pakistan by a factor of nine. Air pollution levels are also well above average in Central and West Africa, large parts of Southeast Asia and parts of Central America.
According to the report, China, the world’s most populous country, is making significant progress. Between 2013 and 2020, PM2.5 pollution there decreased by almost 40 percent. This has increased life expectancy there by two years. Air pollution still costs the Chinese an average of 2.6 years of life, according to the study.
“Clean air pays off in extra years of life for people around the world,” said Crista Hasenkopf, one of the lead authors of the Air Quality Index. “A permanent reduction in global air pollution to meet WHO guidelines would mean a 2.2-year increase in average life expectancy.”
The study authors also compared air pollution to other life-shortening factors. The global impact of PM2.5 exposure is comparable to that of tobacco use, three times more harmful than alcohol consumption and causes six times more premature deaths than the immunodeficiency disease AIDS.
Source: Nachrichten
