Pollution and health: a progress update

The Lancet Commission on pollution and health reported that pollution was responsible for 9 million premature deaths in 2015, making it the world's largest environmental risk factor for disease and premature death. We have now updated this estimate using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuriaes, and Risk Factors Study 2019. We find that pollution remains responsible for approximately 9 million deaths per year, corresponding to one in six deaths worldwide. Reductions have occurred in the number of deaths attributable to the types of pollution associated with extreme poverty. However, these reductions in deaths from household air pollution and water pollution are offset by increased deaths attributable…

• BA
  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• IF
  Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
• HM
  Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy
• DF
  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government
• DF
  Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit