More than 5.5 million people worldwide die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution, and India and China together account for 55 per cent of these deaths, new research has found.

About 1.6 million people died of air pollution in China and 1.4 million died in India in 2013.

The international team of researchers from India, China, Canada and the U.S. estimated that despite efforts to limit future emissions, the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution will climb over the next two decades unless more aggressive targets are set. The findings were presented on Friday at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC.

“Air pollution is the fourth highest risk factor for death globally and by far the leading environmental risk factor for disease,” said Michael Brauer, professor at University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health in Vancouver, Canada.

Indian scenario

In India, a major contributor to poor air quality is the practice of burning wood, dung and similar sources of biomass for cooking and heating. Millions of families, among the poorest in India, are regularly exposed to high levels of particulate matter in their own homes. “India needs a three-pronged mitigation approach to address industrial coal burning, open burning for agriculture, and household air pollution sources,” Chandra Venkataraman, professor at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, in Mumbai, said.IANS