India leads the world
in pollution-linked deaths, followed by China and Nigeria, according to a
report published Wednesday that estimated the global impact of contaminants in
the air, water and workplace.
The report by the
Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) found pollution to be the
largest environmental cause of premature death on the planet, causing 15
percent of all deaths — 8.3 million people.
Among the 10 countries
with the most pollution deaths in 2017, the latest year for which data were
available, were some of the world’s largest and wealthiest nations, along with
some poorer ones.
India and China led in
the number of pollution deaths, with about 2.3 million and 1.8 million deaths,
respectively, followed by Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan.
The United States,
with 325 million people, came in at number seven with almost 200,000 deaths.
Acting executive
director of GAHP, Rachael Kupka, said that”The report reminds us all that
pollution is a global crisis,” and “It
does not matter where you live. Pollution will find you.”
Pollution-linked death
rates were highest in some of the world’s most impoverished countries, where
poor water sanitation and contaminated indoor air are major killers.
Chad, Central African
Republic and North Korea saw the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people
(287, 251 and 202, respectively), with India entering the per capita list at
number 10 with 174 deaths per 100,000 people.
On the other end of
the scale, five nations in the Arabian Peninsula rank among the 10 countries in
the world with the lowest death rates from pollution, with Qatar reporting the
lowest.
Drawing its data from
the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation, which is based in Seattle and was
founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the report broke risk factors
into four categories: air, water, occupational and lead.
Air pollution
represents a combination of household and outdoor contaminants as well as
ozone, while water pollution included unsafe water and poor sanitation.
Occupational risk
encompassed deaths from carcinogens, secondhand smoke, particulates, gases and
fumes, while lead pollution deaths were those associated with exposure to
legacy emissions from leaded gasoline. This refers to the lead that was
deposited, and remains, in the soil from car exhaust.
The report also named
ambient air pollution as responsible for 40 percent of all pollution-related
deaths, led by China, India and Pakistan (1.2 million, 1.2 million and 130,000,
respectively).
The number of global
deaths linked to pollution barely exceeded those from tobacco use, which is
around 8 million, but greatly eclipsed deaths from alcohol and drugs, high
sodium diets, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and war, it said.