A new report about India’s air pollution levels has revealed that people across the country are losing additional years due to high levels of pollutants.
According to the report, an average person in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh is now losing an additional 2.5 to 2.9 years of life expectancy.
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With more than 480 million people or about 40% of its population living in the Indo-Gangetic plains in the north with pollution levels regularly exceeding, India is the most polluted country in the world.
This level of pollution has not been found anywhere else in the world by an order of magnitude, stated the University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report.
The study by the varsity’s Energy Policy Institute ascertains how much longer a person can live if they breathe clean air.
According to the study, people of northern India will lose more than nine years of life expectancy if pollution levels of that of 2019 persist.
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In 2019, India’s average particulate matter concentration was 70.3 microgram per cubic meter (μg/m3 ), the highest in the world and seven times the World Health Organisation’s guideline of 10 μg/m3, the report said.
In India, the high levels of air pollution have expanded geographically over time alarmingly.
The report said as compared to a couple of decades ago, particulate pollution is not only found in Indo-Gangetic plains alone. It has increased in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh also.
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For Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the AQLI data reveals that the average person would live 5.6 years longer if pollution were reduced to meet the WHO guidelines, it said.
The benefits of clean air policy are even greater in the Indo-Gangetic plains, where 480 million people regularly breathe pollution levels that exceed those found in Europe and North America by an order of magnitude, the report said.
“Average life expectancy across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan would be 5.6 years higher if pollution concentrations complied with the WHO guideline,” it said.
The number of vehicles in India and Pakistan has increased about four-fold since the early 2000s. In Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan combined, electricity generation from fossil fuels tripled from 1998 to 2017, the report said.
Crop burning, brick kilns, and other industrial activities have also contributed to rising particulates in the region, it said.