Shanghai, June 15 (BNA): Chronic air pollution reduces world life expectancy by more than two years per capita, a study published on Tuesday showed, an effect similar to that of smoking and much worse than HIV/AIDS or terrorism.
More than 97% of the world’s population lives in areas where air pollution exceeds recommended levels, the University of Chicago Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) said in its latest Air Quality Index, which used satellite data to measure levels of dangerous PM2.5. Floating particles that damage the lungs.
She said that if global PM2.5 levels were reduced to the five micrograms per cubic meter recommended by the World Health Organization, life expectancy would rise by an average of 2.2 years, Reuters reports.
The study cautioned against neglecting air pollution as a public health issue, with still insufficient funding to address the problem.
“Now that our understanding of the impact of pollution has improved, there is a stronger argument for governments to prioritize it as an urgent policy issue,” said Christa Hasenkov, director of the Air Quality Index at EPIC.
The study said South Asians are losing an estimated five years of life to smog, with India accounting for about 44% of the global increase in air pollution since 2013.
China’s population could live, on average, 2.6 years longer if the WHO standards were reached, although life expectancy has improved by about two years since 2013, when the country launched a “war on pollution” that reduced PM2 .5 by about 40%.
EPIC’s calculations were based on a previous study that showed that continued exposure to an additional 10 mcg per cubic meter of PM2.5 would reduce life expectancy by about a year.
Not a single country was able to meet the World Health Organization’s standard of 5 micrograms in 2021, according to a survey of pollution data published earlier this year.