Air pollution would decrease the life expectancy of all people on the planet by 2.9 years on average. In 2015, fine particles and ozone killed 8.8 million people worldwide, according to a study published Tuesday in the scientific journal Cardiovascular Research .
The damage is greater than that caused by AIDS, wars, or epidemic diseases, say the researchers. "Two thirds of premature deaths are attributable to human air pollution, mainly from fossil fuels," said Thomas Münzel, co-author of the study, quoted by HuffPost .
A scourge more serious than tobacco
The difference is due to the new calculation methods and mathematical models used in the most recent studies. Here, the researchers gathered and studied the results of dozens of studies carried out around the world. According to them, the impact of air pollution on health is greater than that of smoking, which costs “only” 2.2 years of life expectancy on average.
The lifetime effects of pollution are also said to be twice as large as the researchers expected. "Given that the impact of air pollution on public health is greater than expected, [...] we believe that these results demonstrate that there is an 'air pollution pandemic'", explains Thomas Münzel .
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