Pollution killed 2.51 million people in India in 2015; highest in world

New Delhi, Oct 21: A scientific study published in the Lancet journal has revealed that India recorded maximum number of deaths due to water and air pollution in 2015. The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health has spent two years to study the issue.

Most of these deaths are due to non-communicable diseases caused by pollution such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), researchers said.

According to the study, air pollution is the biggest contributor, linked to 6.5 million deaths in 2015 in the world while water pollution (1.8 million deaths) and workplace- related pollution (0.8 million deaths) pose the next largest risks.

Researchers, including those from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi and Icahn School of Medicine in the US, pointed out that almost 92 per cent pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

In rapidly industrialising countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Madagascar and Kenya while deaths due to pollution can account for up to one in four deaths.

"In 2015, the greatest numbers of deaths due to pollution occurred in India (2.5 million deaths) and China (1.8 million)," the study said.

Welfare losses due to pollution are estimated to cost more than USD 4.6 trillion each year, equivalent to 6.2 per cent of global economic output, it said.

Pollution is linked to an estimated nine million deaths each year worldwide equivalent to one in six (16 per cent) of all deaths.

The report found that pollution as a result of outdoor and indoor air pollution, water and soil contamination, and chemical pollutants is one of the largest risk factors for premature death.

Pollution disproportionately affecting the poor and marginalised in every country worldwide, researchers said.

Workplace pollution, including exposure to toxins and carcinogens, was linked to 0.8 million deaths from diseases such as such pneumoconiosis in coal workers, bladder cancer in dye workers, and asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other cancers in workers exposed to asbestos.

The study also pointed out that lead pollution was linked to 0.5 million deaths that resulted from high blood pressure, renal failure, and cardiovascular disease caused by lead in adults.

Types of pollution associated with industrial development, such as ambient air pollution (including ozone), chemical, occupational pollution and soil pollution, have increased from 4.3 million (9.2 per cent) in 1990 to 5.5 million (10.2 per cent) in 2015 as countries reach higher levels of development.

Numbers portend grim future for Indians

In 2016, India overtook China in terms of the number of deaths due to ambient (outdoor) air pollution, with the country witnessing 50 deaths more than China reported per day in 2015, an agency report citing the Global Burden of Disease project said. (Read more here)

According to the November 2016 news report, data showed that in 2015, India witnessed 3,280 premature deaths (fatalities due to Ozone concentration and particulate matter concentration) per day, whereas China had recorded 3,230.

In 2010, the number of premature deaths in India was at 2,863, whereas in China it was at 3,190. Similarly, in 2005 India was at 2,654 and China at 3,332.

While premature deaths have increased by 23 per cent in India over the last decade, China has reversed the trend and recorded a decline of three per cent.

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project was compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.

According to the study, the rate of premature deaths in India has been increasing at an alarming rate, and from 2,140 deaths per day in 1990, it has reached to 3,280 in 2015.

This is a nearly 53 per cent increase in premature deaths in the past 25 years, a much sharper increase than in China, which has seen a 16 per cent increase over the corresponding period as it managed to reverse the trend 2005 onwards.