How Air Pollution Is Much More Lethal Than Smoking In India
NDTV
Over half a billion people from Punjab to West Bengal are on track to lose 7.6 years of life expectancy on average.
Delhi is the world's most polluted city with air pollution shortening lives by almost 10 years, while in Lucknow it's 9.5 years, according to the latest Air Quality Life Index by the Energy Policy Institute of University of Chicago (EPIC).
This is a pollution index that translates particulate air pollution into its impact on life expectancy.
The Indo-Gangetic Plain is the most polluted region in the world (see image below). Over half a billion people from Punjab to West Bengal are on track to lose 7.6 years of life expectancy on average, if current pollution levels persist according to the report.
This makes air pollution more lethal than smoking which reduces life expectancy by 1.5 years and child and maternal malnutrition's 1.8 years.
