Polluted Air Is Killing 5.5 Million People Around The World, Majority Of Such Deaths Are From China And India

Do you know after smoking, what is the next cause of death worldwide? Its Air Pollution. Yes, every year around 5.5 million people are dying around the world because of breathing polluted air. And to add further majority of such deaths are from China and India.

Breathing Polluted Air Is the 2nd Major Cause Of Death Around The World:

Smoking is Kills 6 Million people

Smoking is the No.1 cause of majority deaths across the world, according to WHO (World Health Organisation) smoking kills 6 million people annually.

1. Air Pollution Ranks No 2

According to a recent study, the authors revealed that disease from air and household pollution ranks as the number two cause of death worldwide. This research was a part of an initiative, which was to monitor the global burden of disease.

2. Air Pollution can cause heart attacks and strokes

Fine particulate matter from power generation, transportation and open burning comprises to Outdoor Air Pollution. On the other hand, Household pollution is produced by stoves that burn coal, wood and animal dung for cooking and heat, mainly in India and Africa. Both these types of pollution can lead to causing heart attacks and strokes.
According to researchers nearly 1 million people die annually from such causes in China, and more than a half-million die in India. To add further to these numbers around 300,000 die in the United States and European Union countries.

3. Findings of the Report

As per the findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) by the scientists from US, Canada, China and India, conditions caused by air pollution has killed 1.6 million people in China and 1.4 million people in India in 2013.

4. Majority of the world’s population live in polluted zones

According to Brauer “More than 85 percent of the world’s population lives in areas that exceed the World Health Organization’s ‘safe level’ of air pollution,”

5. Outdoor Air Pollution will kill around 1.3 Million people by 2030

According to a report by co-author Qiao Ma, who is a doctoral student at the School of Environment at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Outdoor air pollution from coal has contributed to about 366,000 Chinese deaths in the year 2013. She estimated that between 990,000 and 1.3 million people in china will lose their lives prematurely by 2030. This can be controlled only by imposing ambitious pollution-reduction targets.

China and India have the filthiest Air in the world

According to reports it is estimated that despite of efforts to limit future emissions, there will be a rise in the number of premature deaths linked with air pollution in next two decades. Countries need to have more aggressive targets in place. Power plants, vehicle exhaust, industrial manufacturing and burning coal and wood all contribute in releasing small particles into the air which are extremely dangerous to a person’s health.

Measures taken to control Air Pollution

1. China takes aggressive steps to reduce particle Emission

The most dominant factor for polluted air in China is the particle emissions from coal burning. This project alone calculates for more than 360,000 deaths annually. The Government of China is moving aggressively towards improving the air quality by forcing automobiles to be equipped with cleaner technology, and also lower the amounts of particulate emission from the power plants.

2. US and Europe are Models for China

In the United States, the yearly deaths from air pollution fell from 119,000 to 79,000 between the year 1990 and 2013, and in the European Union, the yearly deaths fell from 350,000 to 218,000 in the same period. According to Greenbaun both these countries stand as models for China.

3. US imposed strict rules on Industries

In the United States, there is a continuous push for lowering emissions from automobile traffic. They have imposed stronger rules on the industry, such as cement plants and also on those that generate electricity from coal.

4. House Hold Pollution in India is difficult to control

India is also trying to reduce household air pollution, but it’s still not with the same urgency as China. The major problem is that the poor families can’t convert to electric stoves. Indian women are at higher risk, as they are exposed to high levels of pollution A national cook-stove initiative has given about 110 million households stoves which that burn bio-matter.This problem prevails all over India and is not a centralized problem. This problem is also due to lack of awareness among the people and not related to technology.

Air pollution is by far the leading environmental risk factor for disease. If this pollution is reduced it will be an incredibly efficient way to improve the health of a population, saving so many lives.

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