Study: Air Pollution Kills 1.5 Million Deaths in India

As per a recent study published by The Lancet Planetary Health journal, about 1.5 million people lose their life due to prolonged exposure to degraded air and high PM 2.5 levels. Over 1.4 billion people breathed poor air with PM 2.5 levels, which is significantly higher than World Health Organisation’s recommended levels.

Led by team of researchers from Ashoka University, Haryana, and the Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, it found that approximately 82% of the population reside in areas where PM2.5 levels are way above than the recommendations set by Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which is capped at 40 microns per cubic metre.

Joel Schwartz, professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and principal investigator from the US for the CHAIR-India consortium said, “Delhi may get the headlines, but this is a problem all over India. Nationwide efforts are needed.”

A yearly surge in PM2.5 pollution of 10 microns per cubic metre increased the annual mortality by 8.6%.

To analyse the accuracy of the study, scientists studied deaths data spanning across India from the Civil Registration System between 2009 to 2019, while PM 2.5 levels were monitored by assessing 1,000 ground-monitoring stations in the country during the same period.

It was concluded that there is no substantial evidence to link long-term exposure to air pollution with deaths in India.

Suganthi Jaganathan, doctoral researcher at Ashoka University’s CHART said, “High PM2.5 exposure levels in India cause a significant mortality burden, not limited to urban areas. A systematic, not symptomatic, approach is needed.”

Notably, the study urged the government to take strict measures to improve AQI across India while also stressing on the need to strengthen regulations to improve AQI across India.