Air

• Healthy life lost from air pollution

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Air pollution is a major health hazard

36 million years of healthy life are lost every year because of air pollution. Behind every single number is a person losing a full year of healthy living.

…and highly deadly

Air pollution causes 2.4 million deaths each year - one every 13 seconds. Most of these are in the developing world.

The world’s 4th most lethal killer

Air pollution is responsible for nearly 5 percent of the global burden of disease. It is the world’s 4th most lethal killer after malnutrition, unsafe sex, and lack of safe water and sanitation.

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2. What does it mean (1 of 3)

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• Healthy life lost from air pollution

  The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a measure of overall burden of disease. It extends the concept of potential years of life lost due to premature death to include equivalent years of ‘healthy’ life lost by virtue of being in states of poor health or disability. Traditionally, health liabilities were expressed using one measure: (expected or average number of) Years of Life Lost (YLL). This measure does not take the impact of disability into account, which can be expressed by Years Lived with Disability (YLD) DALYs are calculated by taking the sum of these two components DALY = YLL + YLD.
  • World Health Organization (Excel file)
  • Wikipedia - Disability adjusted life year

• 1. Air pollution is a major health hazard

     • World Health Organization (Excel file)

  2. …and highly deadly

     • United Nations report: Global Environmental Outlook 4, p52

  3. The world’s 4th most lethal killer

     • United Nations report: Global Environmental Outlook 3

Content

• ALL FACTS
• Air that you have inhaled today
• Deaths from air pollution in cities
• Time spend indoors
• Healthy life lost from air pollution
• Recovery of the ozone hole

• OK, I get it. Bad things are going on
• Now what?