A recently released study by a United States research group has revealed that air pollution is the greatest threat to the health of an average Indian, shortening life expectancy by 5 years. The situation was found to be especially bad in New Delhi, the most polluted city in the world, shortening life expectancy by 10 years for those living in the national capital region. Globally, air pollution shortened average life expectancy by 2.2 years.
In contrast, child and maternal malnutrition was noted as reducing life expectancy of an average Indian by 1.8 years, while smoking reduced it by 1.5 years.
The study, titled 'Air Quality Life Index', conducted by by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), noted that India's entire population of 1.3 billion people lived in areas where the annual average particulate pollution (PM2.5) level. "More than 63 per cent of the population live in areas that exceed the country's own national air quality standard of 40 µg/m," it added.
PM2.5 refers to particulate matter that have diameter less than 2.5 micrometers (more than 100 times thinner than a strand of human hair). These fine particles, owing to their light weight, stay suspended in the air for much longer than coarse particles like dust or pollen, which tend to settle down. Burning of fossils, forest fires and chemical reactions are some of the biggest contributors to the release of PM2.5 particles in the air. Sustained exposure to them can cause serious respiratory illness such as asthma, bronchitis and a wide range of cardiovascular and heard diseases.
According to EPIC's report, the top five most polluted states were Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Tripura, with life expectancies in these states shortening by 8.2, 7.9, 7.4 and 6 years respectively, as compared to living with air pollution under WHO's prescribed safe limit.
The reported noted that over 510 million people in the northern regions of Indo-Gangetic plains are currently on track to lose 7.6 years of life expectancy on average, if current levels of air pollution are left unchecked. The reported added, "Residents of Lucknow stand to lose 9.5 years of life expectancy if pollution levels persist."
"It would be a global emergency if Martians came to Earth and sprayed a substance that caused the average person on the planet to lose more than two years of life expectancy. This is similar to the situation that prevails in many parts of the world, except we are spraying the substance, not some invaders from outer space," Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service professor in Economics told the media in statement.
It was Greenestone's team at EPIC who developed the Air Quality Life Index that 'quantifies the causal relationship between long-term human exposure to air pollution and life expectancy'. "Fortunately, history teaches us that it does not need to be this way. In many places around the planet, like the United States, strong policies, supported by an equally strong willingness for change, have succeeded in reducing air pollution," Greenstone added.
The damning report puts South Asia as the worst affected region by air pollution in the world. India's extremely poor air quality was found to be the second worst, after Bangladesh, where average life expectancy has been reduced by 6.9 years in 2020, due to air pollution. India is followed by Nepal (4.1 years), Pakistan (3.8), and Democratic Republic of Congo (2.9 years).
You can find the full report here.