China and India account for more than half of the total global air pollution deaths in 2015.
The study by the American Institute for Health Impacts (HEI) shows that global air pollution caused more than 4.2 million deaths in 2015, the fifth leading cause of death, with only 2.2 million deaths in China and India.
The Institute also launched an online database showing the global impact of pollution on health (www.stateofglobalair.org), saying 92 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas with unhealthy air.
Air pollution is associated with cancer, stroke and heart disease and the incidence of chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma.
China and India are the two most populous countries in the world, each with 1.1 million deaths, the results show, but China is taking action, HEI President Dan Greenbaum told Reuters.
“(India) has a longer way to go, and they seem to have some ministers that, despite considerable evidence, there is no strong link between air pollution and mortality,” he said.
Chinese authorities are also reluctant to link directly to air pollution and mortality, and the Chinese health ministry says it has no data to link fumes to higher cancer rates.
“It is too early to draw conclusions about the health effects of smoke, especially on the long-term effects of the body,” a ministry spokeswoman said at a January press conference.
In its long-term national health plan, released last October, the government recognizes the link between health and pollution and is committed to assessing the impact and improving environmental monitoring capacity.
