While air pollution is supposed to be clearing up globally as we move towards meeting sustainability goals set to tackle the climate crisis, in some places, it’s only getting worse. There are cities around the world enveloped in “emergency” levels of smog worse than the year before. Delhi, India’s capital city, is one of them.
It’s so bad that the concentration of PM2.5 – the most dangerous known pollutant – may cut short the Delhiites life expectancy by up to 17 years! Meaning, if the levels remain as they are or worsen, everyone that lives in Delhi could have almost a quarter of their life taken from them just by breathing. To compare, the pollution in Beijing and Los Angeles will cut short it’s residents’ life expectancy by nearly six and one fewer years, respectively.
These numbers were calculated by an analysis of PM2.5 levels in Delhi conducted by the India Today Data Intelligence Unit (DIU). They mapped out the levels with Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) – a statistical model used by researchers to estimate the impact of air quality on life expectancy. The results aren’t so surprising considering that on November 19, the air was 25 times more toxic than the permissible limit according to the World Health Organization guidelines.
PM2.5 is so dangerous because it’s a micropollutant so small its width is just 3% that of a human hair! This makes it easy for the pollutant to enter the bloodstream where it’s carried off to all other regions of the body and cause severe problems like lung and brain cancer. It’s also capable of forming clots that block the blood flow and lead to heart attack, stroke, or severe pulmonary infections.
That’s not all! Other reports have found the particles could impact the immune system and cause inflammation, which results in weight gain, diabetes, adolescent psychotic experiences, and other mental health problems.
The State of Global Air Report 2019 said:
Air pollution is the fifth leading risk factor for mortality worldwide. It is responsible for more deaths than malnutrition, alcoholism, and physical inactivity. Each year, more people die from air pollution-related diseases than from road traffic injuries or malaria.
A separate DIU analysis found that children in Delhi are smoking the equivalent of 10 cigarettes a day by inhaling the toxic city air. These numbers are based on the calculations that exposure to 22 micrograms per cubic meters of PM 2.5 is equal to smoking a cigarette a day. Between October 20 and November 21, the average PM2.5 level in Delhi was 227 – or ten cigarettes a day. Yet another research on air pollution and cigarettes (in general, not just in Delhi) found that breathing in very polluted air is as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day!
The leading causes of heavy pollution in this city are vehicles, the thermal power industry, and farmers burning stubble in Northern India.
