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November 20, 2018

Global lifespans being cut by 1.8 years due to air pollution

Air pollution is reducing global lifespans by an average of 1.8 years, according to the University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index (AQLI).
By
Jack Loughran

The study found that some of the most polluted areas were in Asia, where life expectancy could be reduced by more than six years in many areas. Even US residents could lose a year of their lives from pollution, despite stricter rules.

The tiny particles ingested from polluted air shorten life more than first-hand cigarette smoke, which can reduce it by 1.6 years, and are more dangerous than other public health threats such as war and HIV/AIDS, the study found.

“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 colours, like red, brown, orange and green. What those colours mean for people’s wellbeing has always been unclear,” said professor Michael Greenstone at the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) shows people in parts of India, the world’s second-largest country by population, could live 11 years less due to high levels of air pollution.

The AQLI is based on a pair of peer-reviewed studies co-authored by Greenstone that quantify the causal relationship between long-term human exposure to particulate pollution and life expectancy.

The results from these studies are then combined with hyper-localised, global particulate matter measurements, yielding unprecedented insight into the true cost of air pollution in communities around the world.

Continue reading at E&T…