Poor air quality ‘kills 5.5m people each year’

A new study has shed light on the negative impact poor air quality has on the health of global populations on an annual basis.

For this research, scientists from Canada, the US, China and India assembled estimates of air pollution levels in China and India and calculated their impact on health, while forecasting future trends.

It was estimated that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution, with China and India accounting for around 55 percent of this total.

Although North America, western Europe and Japan have made important strides in reducing pollution by using cleaner fuels and more efficient vehicles, the fast-growing Asian economies remain reliant on polluting fuel sources such as coal and wood.

As such, the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution are expected to climb over the next two decades unless more aggressive targets are set.

Michael Brauer, a professor at the University of British Columbia's school of population and public health, said: "Reducing air pollution is an incredibly efficient way to improve the health of a population."