Air pollution killed 12.4L Indians in 2017: ICMR

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 9

More than seven in every 10 Indians were exposed to lethal air pollutants through 2017, says a new government study on the impact of air pollution on national health.

Air pollution killed 12.4 lakh people in the country in the year of study. This adds up to as much as 12.5 per cent of total deaths in India in 2017.

“Of the total 1.24 million (12.4 lakh) deaths due to air pollution, 0.67 million (6.7 lakh) are attributable to ambient particulate matter pollution (PM levels) and 0.48 million (4.8 lakh) to household air pollution,” the study by Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research says.

What’s alarming is – of all deaths from air pollution, a little over half (51.4 pc) involved people younger than 70 years.

“The annual population-weighted mean exposure to ambient particulate matter PM 2.5 in India was 89.9 µg/m³ (micro grams per cubic metre of air). Most states and 76.8 per cent of the population of India were exposed to annual population-weighted mean PM 2.5 greater than 40 µg/m³ which is the limit recommended by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in India,” researchers say.

India contributes 18.1 per cent of the global population it has 26.2 per cent of the global DALYs (one lost year of healthy life) in 2017. Researchers say ambient particulate matter pollution DALY rate was the highest in north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan and the household air pollution DALY rate was the highest in the Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, MP and Assam.

Damning figures

12.5% of total deaths in India were caused by air pollution in 2017

4.8 lakh deaths were caused by the household air pollution

51.4% of the deaths involved people younger than 70 years

26.2% India accounts for global DALY (one lost year of healthy life)

PM2.5 highest in Delhi 

• The study found Delhi had the highest levels of PM2.5 in 2017, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana in north India
• All these states had mean PM2.5 pollutant values greater than 125 µg/m³ as against 40 micro gram per cubic metre, which is permissible for zero impact on human health 
• Particulate matter 2.5 refers to fine particles of dust that can settle in the lungs, interrupting respiratory function and proving fatal in the long term