• In India, over 1.2 million people lost their lives due to air pollution in 2017 according to the State of the Global Air 2019 report.
• This report is compiled and released by the US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI).

Important highlights:

• This report looks at air pollution caused by three of the most problematic pollutants: fine particles (PM2.5), ozone and household (indoor) air pollution.
• Over 90 percent of people in the world live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollutants as per guidelines set by the World Health Organisation.
• Half of these areas don't qualify even for the least-stringent targets for air quality as per the guidelines.
• The State of Global Air 2019 report looks at how long-term exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution has affected health.
• Five million cases of death from stroke, diabetes, heart attack, lung cancer, and chronic lung disease the world over were linked with air pollution in 2017, according to the report. Of these, 1.5 million were in India and China, directly related to PM 2.5 levels.
• China and India come up very often in the report and are together responsible for over half the global deaths. Among Indians, air pollution was the third highest cause of death in 2017, costing more lives than smoking did. Children born in South Asia will live 26 months fewer than they would in an area with better air quality, while globally, life expectancy is lower by 20 months.
• Unlike India, China's PM2.5 pollution levels have seen a marked drop in recent years, which the report attributes to extensive government efforts to control emissions from power plants, traffic, household burning of coal, among other sources.
• In India, government schemes launched to address air pollution like the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Household LPG program, accelerated Bharat Stage 6 clean vehicle standards, and the new National Clean Air Programme can have significant health benefits in the coming years.

Air quality changes: 1990 to 2007

• Not all countries have seen similar changes in air quality indices over the years. There have been wide disparities in air quality globally from 1990 to 2017.
• Russia, the European Union, Japan, Brazil, and the United States saw the most improvements in air quality during the 18-year period. But the bulk of the population in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, and China have been exposed to levels of PM2.5 that are well above the WHO's warning levels — the "Interim target" of 35 ug/m^3.
• And while the quality of it has been poor over the years, India and China appear to be particularly susceptible to its disease burden, as is clearly visible in the relative pollution levels and disease burden in countries neighbouring India .

Household and Indoor Air Pollution

• India has another unique concern with regard to air pollution — a large population in the country still uses the old-school method of burning solid fuels like coal, wood, charcoal, dung, and other forms of biomass to cook food, and heat and light their houses. This is a big contributor to PM2.5 levels in and around homes. Fine particles in ambient air from household air pollution also eats away at health. 846 million Indians (that's ~60 percent of the country) live with a household air pollution problem.
• The many effects that air pollution has on health are also reflected in a loss of life expectancy. Another global study by Greenpeace released on 5 March this year cited Delhi-NCR as the most polluted capital city in the world, and Gurugram, the most polluted city.