Context:
Air pollution is having an increasing impact on human health, becoming the second leading global risk factor for death, according to the fifth edition of the State of Global Air (SoGA) report.
Relevance:
Facts for Prelims
State of Global Air (SoGA) Report Overview
Releasing Organization
- The State of Global Air (SoGA) Report is published by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), a U.S.-based independent nonprofit research organization, in collaboration with UNICEF.
Purpose and Scope
- The report analyzes air quality data and its health impacts globally, defining air pollution as a complex mix of particles and gases with varying sources and compositions over time and space.
Key Findings from the 2024 Report
- Global Risk Factor
- Air pollution is the second-leading global risk factor for death, overtaking tobacco and diabetes, but still trailing hypertension.
- Disease Burden
- Non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) account for nearly 90% of the disease burden from air pollution.
- PM2.5 Impact
- Six out of ten deaths attributed to air pollution are due to the tiny PM2.5 particles. Ozone and household air pollution account for 38% and 6% of deaths, respectively.
- Global Mortality
- Air pollution-related diseases caused 8.1 million deaths worldwide in 2021, with India responsible for one in four of these deaths.
- Regional Impact
- India and China together represented 54% of the global disease burden due to air pollution in 2021. India accounted for 21 lakh (2.1 million) deaths, and China for 23 lakh (2.3 million) deaths.
- Child Mortality
- Over 700,000 deaths in children under five years were linked to air pollution, representing 15% of all global deaths in this age group.
- Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) are the leading cause of death among children under five.
- India recorded the highest number of deaths among children under five due to air pollution worldwide in 2021, with 169,400 deaths, meaning around 464 children died every day in India that year due to air pollution-related diseases.
- Ozone-related COPD Deaths
- In 2021, nearly 50% (237,000) of all ozone-related COPD deaths occurred in India, followed by China with 125,600 deaths, and Bangladesh with 15,000 deaths.
-Source: India Today
