7 Million People Die of Air Pollution Annually – WHO Report

One in eight of total global deaths is the result of air pollution exposure, according to the new World Health Organization report, released Tuesday.

This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world's largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.

In particular, the new data reveal a stronger link between both indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. This is in addition to air pollution's role in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, the WHO report states.

Regionally, low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012, with a total of 3.3 million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution.

Outdoor air pollution is responsible for 40% of ischaemic heart disease, 40% of stroke and 11% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Indoor air pollution-caused deaths result in 34% of stroke, 26% - ischaemic heart disease and ^% lung cancer.

"The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes," says Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO's Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. "Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe."

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