SHOCKING! India records 1.5 million annual deaths due to air pollution, reveals study

Shocking study reveals 1.4 billion Indians exposed to dangerous PM2.5 levels.  Discover the link between air pollution and mortality, and the urgent need for change. Learn more now.

About a million and a half deaths every year from 2009 to 2019 are potentially linked to long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, according to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.

According to researchers from Ashoka University in Haryana and the Centre for Chronic Disease Control in New Delhi, all 1.4 billion Indians reside in regions with PM2.5 concentrations over the WHO-recommended threshold of five microgrammes per cubic meter per year.

Additionally, the researchers discovered that 1.1 billion people, or roughly 82% of India's population, resided in regions where annual average PM2.5 levels were higher than those advised by the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards (40 microns per cubic meter).

Particles smaller than 2.5 millimetres in diameter are the source of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, pollution. The researchers discovered that an annual rise in PM2.5 pollution of 10 microns per cubic metre was linked to an 8.6% increase in annual death.

Delhi Air Pollution Red Zone

The scientists used data from satellites and more than 1,000 ground-monitoring stations to derive annual PM2.5 concentrations and examine annual mortality from 2009 to 2019 at the district level throughout India. The Civil Registration System provided the death statistics. According to the study, there is little data linking long-term exposure to air pollution in India to fatalities, and the findings differ from those of other nations.

Delhi Air Pollution

It was discovered that exposure to PM2.5 pollution varied greatly over time, with the lowest annual level recorded in 2019 in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh (11.2 microns per cubic metre) and the highest annual level observed in 2016 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi (119 microns per cubic metre).