Outdoor Air Pollution - China Ranks first in WHO list

As per World Health Organization nearly 1 million people die due to air pollution.

WHO’s report states that China tops the list of the most polluted country in the world.

The UN agency report warns that the tiny particulates that comes from car, power plants and several other sources kill nearly 3 million people across the world every year.

WHO has released the country-by-country level analysis report on Outdoor Air Pollution for the first time.

The three nations that tops the list are China, India and Russia. The report reveals that in 2012 around 1 million people died due to air pollution in China. In India nearly 6,00,000 Lakh people died because of air pollution and in Russia around 140,000 people die every year.

At 25th out of 184 countries with data, the UK ranks worse than France, with 16,355 deaths in 2012 versus 10,954, but not as poorly as Germany at 26,160, which has more industry and 16 million more people. Australia had 94 deaths and 38,043 died in the US that year from particulate pollution.

Maria Neria, director of the WHO’s public health and the environment department, said the Guardian: “Countries are confronted with the reality of better data. Now we have the figures of how many citizens are dying from air pollution. What we are learning is, this is very bad. Now there are no excuses for not taking action.”

Gavin Shaddick, who led the international team that put together the data, said: “Globally, air pollution presents a major risk to public health and a substantial number of lives could be saved if levels of air pollution were reduced.”