Nine out of 10 people breathe polluted air

Nobody is safe from air pollution, the UN warned on World Environment Day, with nine out of 10 people on the planet breathing polluted air.

This has led to a growing, global health crisis, which causes about seven million deaths per year, according to the World Health Organisation.

Burning fossil fuels for power, transport and industry is a major contributor to air pollution as well as the main source of carbon emissions.

Here are some facts on the human impacts of air pollution and its links with climate change:

● Air pollution kills 800 people every hour, or 13 every minute, accounting for more than three times the number of people who die from malaria, tuberculosis and Aids combined each year;

● Some of the same pollutants contribute to both climate change and air pollution, including black carbon or soot, produced by inefficient combustion in sources like stoves – and methane;

● The five main sources of air pollution are indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass to cook, heat and light homes; industry; transport, especially vehicles with diesel engines; agriculture, including livestock and rice paddies; the burning of agricultural waste; open waste burning and organic waste in landfills;

● Household air pollution causes about 3.8 million premature deaths each year, the vast majority of them in the developing world;

● 93% of children worldwide live in areas where air pollution exceeds WHO guidelines, with 600,000 children under 15 dying from respiratory tract infections in 2016;

● Air pollution is responsible for 26% of deaths from ischemic heart disease, 24% of deaths from strokes, 43% from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29% from lung cancer;

● 97% of cities in low- and middle-income countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet the WHO minimum air quality levels, and in high-income countries, 29% of cities fall short of guidelines;

● About 25% of urban pollution from fine particulate matter is contributed by traffic, 20% by domestic fuel burning and 15% by industry;

● Keeping global warming “well below” 2°C, as governments have pledged to do under the 2015 Paris Agreement, could save about a million lives a year by 2050.

● In the 15 countries that emit the most gases, the cost of air pollution for public health is estimated at more than 4% of GDP.

600,000 children under 15 years old died from respiratory tract infections in 2016