Washington (AFP)
India and China are the two countries where air, water and workplace pollution kill the most people, with 2.3 and 1.8 million deaths respectively in 2017, according to a published report Wednesday.
Developing and wealthy countries are among the 10 countries most affected by pollution, according to this report by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP), which estimates that pollution is responsible for 15% of adult deaths in the world. world.
After India and China are Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan. The United States is seventh with 200,000 annual deaths, out of a population of 325 million.
"This report reminds us that pollution is a global crisis," says Rachael Kupka, the organization's executive director. "No matter where you live, pollution will find you."
As a proportion of the population and no longer in absolute numbers, it is Chad, the Central African Republic and North Korea where the death rates from pollution were the highest, with 287, 251 and 202 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.
Lack of water treatment, contamination of indoor and outdoor air by cooking or heating fires, as well as automobile pollution are the main causes. Smoke, gases, fine particles and exposure to lead cause the most deaths at work.
At the other end of the ranking, the five countries of the Arabian Peninsula are the least polluted, with Qatar at the lowest.
© 2019 AFP