More than 2 million people die each year because of air pollution

Each year more than two million people die worldwide as a direct result of human-induced air pollution, in which Southeast Asia is the most serious area.

According to research published yesterday in the Environmental Research Letters (IOP) magazine, an estimated 470,000 people die each year due to an increase in ozone levels by humans, ScienceDaily reported.

According to the study, an estimated 2.1 million deaths a year by humans increase the concentration of small-sized airborne dust (PM2.5). These small particles of lithium are suspended in the air and can penetrate deep into the lungs, causing cancer and many respiratory diseases.

Fog covers Shanghai, China.(Photo: Korobanova Marina / Fotolia)

The co-author of the study, Jason West of the University of North Carolina, said: 'Our assessment of outdoor air pollution includes the most important factors affecting health. Some deaths often occur in East Asia and South Asia, where the population density is high and this is where serious air pollution occurs. "

According to scientists, the number of deaths may be due to climate change since the industrialization period, but it is relatively small. Climate change affects air quality in various ways, which increases or decreases air pollutants in the area. For example, temperature and humidity cause the reaction rate to form and the life of the contaminant to change, rainfall can determine the time that pollutants exist in the air. High temperatures increase the amount of emissions of organic compounds from plants, which then react in the atmosphere to produce ozone and other matter particles.

During the study, scientists used a set of climate models to simulate ozone and PM dust concentrations 2.5 in 2000 and 1850. A total of 14 models simulated the concentration of ozone and 6 simulation models of PM dust concentration 2.5.