Air pollution from fossil fuels causes 30% of deaths in India every year

About 2.5 million Indians die every year from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, a study has said. This translates to about 30.7 per cent deaths every year because of air pollution.

About 8 million people died worldwide in 2018 because of air pollution caused due to fossil fuels like coal, diesel, petrol, business daily Mint reported, quoting the study published in Environmental Research journal.

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Fossil fuel pollution is responsible for about 1 in 5 deaths worldwide, the study, conducted by scientists from Harvard University, University College London and other institutions, said.

The study focussed on deaths due to particulate matter (PM 2.5). It used a global three-dimensional model of atmospheric chemistry to estimate PM 2.5 emissions from burning fossil fuels.

India and China see the highest number of deaths due to fossil fuel burning. While 3.91 million Chinese die every year because of air pollution, the corresponding number for India stands at 2.46 million.

Among Indian states, Uttar Pradesh (4.71 lakh deaths) and Bihar (2.88 lakh deaths) had the highest number of deaths of people aged above 14 years due to fossil fuel pollution.

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