New Delhi: More than seven percent of all deaths in ten of India’s largest cities are linked to air pollution, according to a comprehensive study published on Thursday. The study underscores the urgent need for action to save tens of thousands of lives annually.
Smog-filled Indian cities, including the capital Delhi, are plagued by some of the world’s worst air pollution. This environmental hazard chokes the lungs of residents and poses a rising threat to health, which researchers are continually uncovering.
The new study, conducted by an Indian-led team and published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal, examined the levels of cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants in cities like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla, and Varanasi.
From 2008 to 2019, the study found that more than 33,000 deaths per year could be attributed to PM2.5 exposure above the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended threshold of 15 micrograms per cubic meter. This figure represents 7.2 percent of the recorded deaths in these cities during the study period.
Delhi emerged as the worst affected, with 12,000 annual deaths linked to air pollution, accounting for 11.5 percent of the total deaths in the city. However, the researchers emphasized that even cities with seemingly less severe air pollution, such as Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, recorded high death rates related to air quality.
The study’s authors called for India’s air quality standards to be strengthened. Currently, India’s permissible limit is 60 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter, four times higher than the WHO’s guidelines.
“Lowering and enforcing the limit will save tens of thousands of lives per year,” said Joel Schwartz of Harvard University, a co-author of the study. “Methods for controlling pollution exist and are used elsewhere. They urgently need to be applied in India,” he added.
The WHO states that almost everyone on Earth breathes air exceeding the recommended pollution levels, leading to strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, and other respiratory diseases.
The findings highlight the critical need for immediate action to address air pollution in India’s major cities to protect public health and save lives.
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