Responsible air pollution of about 4.5 million people …

European research estimated 4.5 million premature deaths from air pollution-related diseases in 2015, including nearly 240,000 children under five years old.

researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Mainz (Germany) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimated excess deaths attributed to air pollution using data on pollutant concentrations in outdoor air, and causes of death in different countries.

Their research focused on the effects of ozone, a major greenhouse gas, and particulate matter (PM2.5), lower 2.5 microns in diameter. Because of their small size, these particles can penetrate deeply into the respiratory system, increase the risk of respiratory infections, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke and lung cancer.

calculated that in 2015, approximately 270 000 additional deaths could be attributed to exposure to ozone and 4.28 million to fine particles, 727 000 people died of respiratory infections, 1.09 million to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. , 920,000 to cerebrovascular diseases, 1.5 million to heart disease and 304,000 to lung cancer

They also took into account the effects of air pollution on children under the age of five years, the latter being particularly sensitive to respiratory infections resulting from exposure to pollution.

They estimated that in 2015, out of a total of 669 million children under the age of five worldwide, about 240 000 could be attributed to poor air quality leading to respiratory infections, especially pneumonia.

In comparison, 87 000 children died of HIV / AIDS, 525,000 diarrhea and 312,000 malaria the same year

The risk of death from air pollution was particularly high among African children. For example, children in Chad had a risk 10 times higher than the average. In countries like India and Pakistan, the death rate was 1.2 times higher among girls than boys, and scientists suggested that this difference could be the result of differences in nutrition and care.

Note that the origin of fine particles differs from country to country. For example, in India, the main source of pollution is the combustion of solid fuels and heating. In the United States, on the other hand, the largest contributors are factories, transport and agriculture.

Indoor air, if polluted, can also cause health problems, but this study only looked at outdoor air