While many parts of the world are fighting their battles against natural calamities and hurricanes, South Asia is dealing with yet another challenge that is silently cutting short the life expectancy of its people. A new report suggests that the life span of South Asians is getting shorter by up to 5.1 years. Why only South Asia? Well, the answer lies in the fact that South Asia is home to the countries that count as actually some of the most polluted countries of the world, namely Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
As per the report, the poor air quality in India on average takes a total of 5.3 years off an individual. Anyone would wonder that since the cases of conditions like malnutrition and cardiovascular diseases are more commonly heard about, these may be taking off more life years from life spans, but that is far from true. In fact, an average Indian’s life expectancy is decreased by around 4.5 years due to cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, mother malnutrition decreases the average Indian’s life expectancy by 1.8 years. In simple words, increasing pollution in India is acting as a silent killer, that reduces the life expectancy by a total of 5.3 years.
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What was the report?
On August 29, the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute published the report titled “Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) Annual Update 2023”. The AQLI is a measure of the influence of particulate pollution on life expectancy. The recent report took into consideration the particulate matter date from the year 2021 to study its effect on life expectancy.
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What did the study indicate?
South Asian countries are battling with air pollution as a huge life threat. The situation is worse in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. As stated above, the impact of air pollution on the life expectancy in these countries is greater than other significant health threats.
The report suggests that the threat to life expectancy due to air pollution is even greater than other health threats like lack of sanitation, tobacco use, and unsafe water. For instance, tobacco use decreases the life expectancy in such nations by 2.8 years. On the other hand, poor sanitation and unsafe water reduce the life expectancy by 1 year. Even alcohol use does not decrease the life expectancy as much as air pollution does, as it decreases the life expectancy by half a year.
The report indicated that an average person residing in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal is exposed to a 51 percent higher particulate pollution level as compared to the level in the last century.
The report says that if the levels of air pollution remained constant over time in 2000, people in these nations would have a loss of life expectancy by over 3.3 years, and not as high as 5.2 years, which is the case in 2021.
Studying the air pollution in South Asia
The most polluted country in the world is Bangladesh. Fortunately, the country saw a decline in particulate pollution in the year 2021 of 2.1% as compared to the levels in 2020, it still stands as the most polluted country in the world. Air pollution terribly impacts the life expectancy of residents of Bangladesh, as the average loss of years in Bangladesh due to air pollution is 6.8 years. As per the World Health Organization, the annual average concentrations of PM 2.5 must not be more than 5 µg/m3.
Talking about India, the country stands as the second most polluted country in the world. The annual average particulate pollution level of India exceeds the limit suggested by the WHO. Around 67.4% of the population in India reside in areas that increase the national air quality standard of 40 µg/m3.
The air quality levels in India have been dropping over the years. As per the report, the average annual particulate pollution has increased in India by 67.7% from the year 1998 to 2021. This has further reduced the average life expectancy by a total of 2.3 years/ Between the years 2020 and 2021, the PM 2.5 level in India has spiked from 56.2 µg/m3 to 58.7 µg/m3. This is 10 times more than the guidelines by WHO. The report suggested that from the year 2013 to 2021, the world’s increase in pollution by 59.1 percent is actually a contribution by India.
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Categories: Trends
Source: vcmp.edu.vn