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AQLI
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November 20, 2018

Delhi: Clean air will add 10 years to your life, study reveals

DNA India brings attention to AQLI's findings on India's particulate pollution and its main sources
By
Nikhil M Ghanekar

If you feel like years of your life have been shorn off because of the toxic air you breathe, you are not wrong. On an average — were it not for the pollution and the country met the World Health Organization’s (WHO) air quality standards — people in India would live an average of 4.3 years longer, a new study reveals. In Delhi, the toxic air quality has reduced the life expectancy of residents by over 10 years due to consistent exposure to particulate pollution, whereas in several districts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, the reduction in life expectancy due to air pollution has been over six years.

The findings were part of the Air Quality-Life Index (AQLI) study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), which also noted that globally, fossil fuel-driven particulate air pollution was cutting average life expectancy by 1.8 years per person.

“While people can stop smoking and take steps to protect themselves from diseases, there is little they can individually do to protect themselves from the air they breathe,” said study co-autor Michael Greenstone, director, EPIC. “The AQLI tells citizens and policymakers how particulate pollution is affecting them and their communities and reveals the benefits of policies to reduce particulate pollution,” he added.

Continue reading at DNA India…