Simply breathing polluted air is more harmful to global human health than using tobacco, according to new data released by the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) of the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. Air pollution worldwide is driving down average life expectancy by an average of 2.3 years, while cigarette smoking and using other tobacco products shortens global life expectancy by an average of 2.2 years. While there have been major improvements in air quality over the last decade, especially in China, people in four South Asian countries — India, Bangladesh Nepal and Pakistan — account for half of global average life expectancy loss with New Delhi, India, residents losing an average of 12 years of their lives due to particulate pollution. (Wall Street Journal $, The Hill, AFP, Telegraph, Reuters, Reuters)
