The science journal the Lancet says 9 million people died worldwide as a result of pollution in 2015.
Nearly all these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, where pollution was the cause in one in four cases. Pollution caused the most deaths in Bangladesh, followed by the African country Somalia. The lowest rates of pollution-related deaths were in Brunei and Sweden.
Air pollution had the biggest impact, lying behind two-thirds of pollution-related deaths. Most of these deaths were from non-communicable diseases caused by pollution, including heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.
More than an environmental challenge
"Pollution is much more than an environmental challenge. It is a profound threat that affects many aspects of public health," said Professor Philip Landrigan, one of the scientists involved in the study, who works at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
Air pollution, the biggest risk, killed 6.5 million people prematurely. It includes outdoor pollution such as gases and airborne particles, as well as smoke from burning wood and charcoal indoors.
The next biggest risk was water pollution, which killed 1.8 million people. Workplace pollution killed another 800,000 people worldwide.
Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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