The Deadly Impact of Air Pollution
Air pollution has increasingly significant consequences on people’s health, becoming the second risk factor for death worldwide, surpassing tobacco and only being surpassed by cardiovascular diseases. During 2021, this problem caused 8.1 million deaths worldwide, according to the latest report on the State of the World’s Air recently published. This study, carried out by the Health Effects Institute (HEI) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in collaboration with UNICEF and scientists at the University of British Columbia, reveals the magnitude of this problem.
Impact on Children
Children under 5 years of age are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, being the second risk factor ahead of malnutrition. Exposure to air pollution was linked to more than 700,000 deaths of children under five years of age during 2021. Unicef highlights that many of these deaths are linked to indoor cooking with polluting fuels, especially in Africa and Asia. The mortality rate linked to air pollution in these places is 100 times higher than that of high-income countries.
Major Pollutants and Their Effects
The report identifies ozone and fine particles known as PM2.5 as the main pollutants causing these deaths. PM2.5, from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass in sectors such as transportation, residential homes, coal-fired power plants, industrial activities and forest fires, would account for 90% of deaths resulting from poor quality from air. For its part, deaths attributed to ozone would be 490,000. These data reveal that almost everyone on the planet breathes unhealthy levels of pollution every day, with significant consequences for their health.
Global Impact
Countries in South Asia and East, West, Central and Southern Africa are the most affected by air pollution-related diseases. India and China, two of the most populous countries, together account for 55% of global pollution-related deaths, with 2.1 million and 2.3 million deaths respectively.