Life Expectancy Reduced By 10 Years Because Of The Air Quality
India is today the world’s second most-polluted country ,the quality of air has become more deadly in Delhi in past two decades. It reduced the life expectancy of a resident by more than 10 years and is now considered as the second among the 50 most polluted areas in India.
Presently, In Delhi the particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometre which was 114 microgram/m3 in 2016 and It was 1.6 times more than 70 microgram/m3 in 1998 whereas In Bulandshahr, the PM 2.5 concentration was 124 microgram/m3 in 2016, which is 1.6 times more than 70 microgram/m3.
According to AQLI and accompanying report produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), globally particulate pollution reduces average life expectancy by 1.8 years, making it the greatest global threat to human health. The concentrations of particulate pollution in India’s northern states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi are “substantially higher” and the impact on life expectancy exceeds by six years.
As per the WHO guideline 5.5 billion people live in areas where particulate pollution has exceeds. Pollution is the greatest threat to human life and causi
ng diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The AQLI says that India and China makes up the 36% of the world’s total population and accounts for the 75% of life lost due to the particulate pollution.
As compared to 1998, the concentration of fine particulates increased by 69 % on an average across India, reducing the life expectancy of a typical Indian citizen by 4.3 years from 2.2 years which is also comparable to that of the life of a smoker and twice of alcohol and drug use along with thrice of the use of unsafe water. The report also reveals that it is 5 times more dangerous than that of the HIV/AIDS and 25 times more than the conflicts of terrorism.
The air quality life index is based on a pair of peer-reviewed studies that shows the normal relationship between long-term human exposure to particulate pollution and life expectancy and according them the air the people are breathing represents a serious risk to human health and the environment.
The results from these studies are then combined with hyper-localized, global particulate matter measurements, yielding unprecedented insight into the true cost of air pollution in communities around the world.
