Researchers said air pollution from burning fossil fuels is shaving an average of 1.8 years off global life expectancy, making it the world’s leading killer.
The University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) says the damage from tiny airborne particles is greater than first-hand cigarette smoke, which can reduce life expectancy by 1.6 years. The researchers also said the threat is more severe than other major public health dangers, including war and HIV/AIDS.
According to the index, people in parts of India could lose as many as 11 years of life because of heavy pollution. The South Asian country has a population of 1.3 billion and an average life expectancy of slightly below 69, according to the World Bank.
The team behind the project has built a website that allows users to check how much life expectancy pollution may cost them based on the region where they live. Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), said the aim was to turn difficult data into “perhaps the most important metric that exists - life”.
Particulate pollution is usually measured in micrograms per cubic meter. Kalikesh Singh Deo, an Indian member of parliament, said in a statement shared by EPIC: “The fact that this AQLI tool quantifies the number of years I and you have lost to air pollution makes me worried,”
The website also shows major losses in China and Indonesia, where life expectancy could be cut by as much as seven years and five and a half years respectively. The researchers said earlier studies had examined premature deaths linked to polluted air, but they hope this tool will make the impact of dirty-energy policies easier to understand and push governments toward cleaner air reforms.
The report also noted that only a handful of India’s 100 most polluted cities had prepared anti-pollution plans, even though they were asked to do so three years earlier. A World Health Organization report said that was the case earlier in 2018.
