According to the new Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), particulate air pollution cuts global average life expectancy by 1.8 years per person.
Business
Standard : People in India would live an average 4.3 years
longer if the country met the global guidelines for particulate
pollution, according to a study which found that effect of pollution
on life expectancy is worse than HIV/AIDS,
cigarette smoking, and even terrorism.
According
to the new Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), developed by researchers at
University of Chicago in the US, particulate air pollution cuts
global average life expectancy by 1.8 years per person.
The
AQLI establishes particulate pollution as the single greatest threat
to human health globally, with its effect on life expectancy
exceeding that of devastating communicable diseases such as
tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, behavioural killers like cigarette
smoking, and even war.
Critically,
the AQLI reports these results in tangible terms that are relatable
for most people.
"Around
the world today, people are breathing air that represents a serious
risk to their health. But the way this risk is communicated is very
often opaque and confusing, translating
air pollution concentrations into colors, like red, brown, orange
and green," said Michael Greenstone, a professor at Energy
Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).
"My
colleagues and I developed the AQLI, where the 'L' stands for 'life,'
to address these shortcomings. It takes particulate air pollution
concentrations and converts them into perhaps the most important
metric that exists: life expectancy," he said.
The
AQLI is based on a pair of studies that quantify the causal
relationship between long-term human exposure to particulate
pollution and life expectancy.
Seventy-five
percent of the global population, or 5.5 billion people, live in
areas where particulate pollution exceeds the WHO guideline.
The
AQLI reveals that India and China, which make up 36 per cent of the
world's population, account for 73 per cent of all years of life lost
due to particulate pollution.
On
average, people in India would live 4.3 years longer if the country
met the WHO guideline -- expanding the average life expectancy at
birth there from 69 to 73 years.
In
the US, about a third of the population lives in areas not in
compliance with the WHO guideline. Those living in the country's most
polluted counties could expect to live up to one year longer if
pollution met the WHO guideline.
Globally,
the AQLI reveals that particulate pollution reduces average life
expectancy by 1.8 years, making it the greatest global threat to
human health.
By
comparison, first-hand cigarette smoke leads to a reduction in global
average life expectancy of about 1.6 years. Other risks to human
health have even smaller effects: Alcohol and drugs reduce life
expectancy by 11 months; unsafe water and sanitation take off 7
months; and HIV/AIDS, 4 months... Read
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