Air pollution takes more than two years off the lives of millions

More than 8 million deaths a year from polluted air 1:08

(CNN) -

Air pollution takes years off the lives of billions of people around the world and is a greater threat to life expectancy than smoking, HIV / AIDS or war, according to a published report. on Wednesday.

In countries where air pollution levels are above the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), people would lose 2.2 years of their lives on average.

India has the highest levels of air pollution in the world and its residents could lose an average of 5.9 years, according to the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) published in an annual report by the Energy Policy Institute of India. the University of Chicago.

In northern India, 480 million people breathe air with pollution levels 10 times higher than anywhere else on the planet.

In some parts of this region, including the cities of Delhi and Kolkata, residents could lose up to nine years of their lives on average if pollution levels recorded in 2019 persist.

Air pollution could cause blindness, according to study 1:10

The index calculates the years lost based on what life expectancy would be if a country met the clean air guidelines established by the WHO.

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The five countries with the highest average number of lost years are all in Asia.

India is followed by Bangladesh, where residents lose an average of 5.4 years of life expectancy, followed by Nepal (5 years), Pakistan (3.9 years) and Singapore (3.8 years).

In Latin America, more than half of the 611 million inhabitants are exposed to levels of air pollution that exceed WHO guidelines.

Across the region, air pollution reduces life expectancy by an average of five months, but that varies greatly by location.

In the Peruvian capital, Lima, people can expect to lose an average of 4.7 years of their lives.

The report's authors claimed that air pollution was primarily driven by the use and production of fossil fuels.

The study also notes how air quality has benefited the air from the pause in air travel and the reduction in traffic and factory production due to the pandemic.

Yet at the same time some parts of the world experienced high levels of air pollution from wildfires, exacerbated by warmer and drier weather conditions.

These events "illustrate that air pollution is not only a global challenge, but is also intertwined with climate change. Both challenges are caused primarily by the same culprit: fossil fuel emissions from power generation plants, vehicles and other industrial sources, "says the report, which calls on world governments to urgently implement policies to reduce their dependence on fuels such as coal, oil and gas.

USA: tragic impact of agricultural pollution 1:06

China's 'war on pollution'

However, there are reasons to be hopeful.

China was among the five most polluted countries from 1998 to 2016. But since it began its so-called "war on pollution" in 2013, it has reduced particulate matter pollution by 29%, representing three-quarters of the pollution reduction in the world. air worldwide.

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That reduction, if sustained, would return 1.5 years of life expectancy to the Chinese, leading to an average loss of 2.6 years.

"To put China's success in context, it took several decades and recessions for the United States and Europe to achieve the same pollution reductions that China was able to achieve in six years," the report says.

In fact, there was a time when London was called "the big smoke" for its dirty air, and Los Angeles was once the "smog capital of the world."

Today, Americans are exposed to 62% less particulate pollution than in 1970 on average.

Similarly, Europeans are exposed on average 27% less than two decades ago.