AQLI quantifies the causal relationship between long-term human exposure to particulate pollution and life expectancy.

This information helps informing local communities and policymakers about the importance of air pollution policies in very concrete terms.

Loss of life expectancy is highest in Asia, exceeding six years in many parts of India and China; some residents of the US still lose up to a year of life from pollution.

Fossil fuel-driven particulate air pollution cuts global average life expectancy by 1.8 years per person, according to the pollution index and accompanying report produced by the EPIC.

Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics and Director of the EPIC, said,” 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. What those colors mean for people’s well being has always been unclear.”

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