According to research, global pollution kills 9 million people each year

New research blames pollution of all kinds for 9 million deaths worldwide each year, with the mortality toll from bad air from vehicles, trucks, and industries increasing by 55% since 2000.

According to an Associated Press (AP) story, this rise is countered by fewer pollution fatalities from primitive indoor stoves and water contaminated with human and animal waste, so overall pollution deaths in 2019 are around the same as in 2015.

According to recent research published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, the United States is the only fully industrialized country in the top ten nations for overall pollution deaths, placing seventh with 142,883 deaths attributed to pollution in 2019, wedged between Bangladesh and Ethiopia.

The pre-pandemic analysis released on Tuesday is based on figures from the Global Burden of Disease database and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. With over 2.4 million and almost 2.2 million pollution fatalities per year, respectively, India and China have the world’s biggest populations.

When mortality rates are calculated per population, the United States ranks 31st from the bottom, with 43.6 pollution fatalities per 100,000 people.

Chad and the Central African Republic have the highest pollution mortality rates, with over 300 pollution fatalities per 100,000 people, more than half of which are caused by contaminated water, whereas Brunei, Qatar, and Iceland have the lowest pollution death rates, ranging from 15 to 23. The global average for pollution-related fatalities per 100,000 persons is 117.

According to the report, pollution kills almost the same number of people each year as cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke combined.

According to Philip Landrigan, Director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory at Boston College, 9 million fatalities are a large number.