10 Facts About Air Pollution

No one is safe from air pollution, the United Nations has warned, with 9 out of 10 people on the planet now breathing polluted air.

This has led to a growing global health crisis that is already causing an estimated 7 million deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The burning of fossil fuels for energy, transport and industry is a major contributor to air pollution as well as the planet's main source of warming carbon emissions - and tackling both problems together could bring substantial public health benefits.

Here are some facts about the human impact on air pollution and its links to climate change:

1. Air pollution kills 800 people every hour or 13 every minute, which is three times the number of people who die from malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined each year.

2. Some of the same pollutants contribute to both climate change and local air pollution, including black carbon or soot - produced by inefficient combustion in sources such as stoves and diesel engines - and methane.

3. The five main sources of air pollution are indoor burning of fossil fuels and wood to cook, heat and light homes; industry, including electricity generation such as coal-fired plants and diesel generators; transport, especially diesel vehicles; agriculture, including livestock, which produces methane and ammonia;

4. Household air pollution causes an estimated 3.8 million premature deaths each year, the vast majority of them in developing countries, and about 60% of these deaths are among women and children.

5. 93% of the world's children live in areas where air pollution exceeds WHO guidelines, and in 2016, 600,000 children under 15 died from respiratory tract infections.

6. Air pollution is responsible for 26% of deaths from ischaemic heart disease, 24% of deaths from stroke, 43% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29% of deaths from lung cancer. In children, it is associated with low birth weight, asthma, cancer, obesity, poor lung development and autism, among other health defects.

7. 97% of cities in low- and middle-income countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet minimum WHO air quality levels, and in high-income countries, 29% of cities do not meet the guidelines.

8. About 25% of urban air pollution from fine particulate matter is contributed by traffic, 20% by domestic fuel combustion and 15% by industrial activities, including electricity generation.

9. Keeping global warming 'well below' 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F), as governments have committed to do under the 2015 Paris Agreement, could save around one million lives a year by 2050 by reducing air pollution.

10. In the 15 countries that emit the most global warming gases, the cost of air pollution to public health is estimated at over 4% of GDP. In comparison, keeping warming within the Paris Agreement temperature limits would require investments of around 1% of global GDP.

Source: World Health Organization