Life expectancy in India has gone down by 2.6 years due to deadly diseases caused by air pollution, according to a recent report.
“Due to this combined exposure, South Asians, including Indians are dying early – their life expectancy has reduced by over 2.6 years. This is much higher than the global tally of reduced life expectancy by an average of 20 months. While globally a child born today will die 20 months sooner on an average than would be expected without air pollution in India they would die 2.6 years earlier,” the report released by the CSE said.
The report by the environment organization Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) revealed that outdoor and household air pollution together are causing deadly diseases. “Thus, together Indians lose 2.6 years,” it said.
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“The deadly tally broken up by diseases shows that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to air pollution at 49 per cent is responsible for close to half of deaths, followed by lung cancer deaths at 33 per cent, diabetes and ischemic heart disease at 22 per cent each and stroke at 15 per cent. It is disturbing how COPD, lung cancer and ischemic heart disease dominate the dubious tally,” it said.
The report referred to two review papers by scientists from the Forum of International Respiratory Societies and said air pollution can harm acutely as well as chronically, potentially affecting every organ in the body.