One of the biggest health problems in the world is neither an infectious disease nor war. There is a much more banal threat: microscopic particles in the air that we breathe into the lungs, which can cause infections, lung diseases and increase the risk of cancer. Particulate pollution – which primarily comes from the burning of fossil energy, and is released from, for example, exhaust pipes, chimneys at factories and power plants – is, on average, a greater burden on global public health than alcohol, HIV/AIDS or malnutrition in children and mothers. On average, each person loses 1.9 years of their life due to pollution. But air pollution peaked worldwide in 2011. Now the latest figures show that air pollution had a big drop between 2021 and 2022 in the eight countries in South Asia that make up the world’s most polluted region. It’s actually the largest annual drop anywhere since the University of Chicago research group began collecting data in 1998. If the drop continues, the average resident of India or Bangladesh could add a year to their life expectancy — a huge improvement.
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The air is getting cleaner in the world’s most polluted region
