Air pollution claims over 80,000 lives in Delhi, Mumbai in 2015: Report

A new study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay has found that air pollution contributed to a total of 80,665 premature deaths of adults over 30 years in Mumbai and Delhi in 2015, a two-fold jump from 1995.

According to a Times of India report, in economic terms, air pollution cost the two cities USD 10.66 billion (approx Rs 70,000 crore) in 2015, which is equivalent to about 0.71 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

With higher pollution levels, the national capital recorded more premature deaths due to ingestion of PM 10 (fine particulate matter measuring 10 microns) from vehicle exhaust, construction dust and other industrial processes.

Moreover, the casualties went up from 19,716 in 1995 to 48,651 in 2015. In Mumbai, the comparative figure rose from 19,291 to 32,014 in 20 years.

According to the study, air pollution was also responsible for 23 million cases of restricted activity days (RAD) – either less productive days or days off work for individuals – in Mumbai in 2015.

The economic cost of PM 10 exposure rose by around 60 per cent in Mumbai, from USD 2.68 million in 1995 (approx Rs 18 crore) to USD 4.26 billion (approx Rs 29,000 crore) in 2015. Cost to Delhi jumped by 135 per cent in the same period to hit USD 6.39 billion (approx Rs 44,000 crore), the study found.

According to the report, researchers believe that these estimates are likely to be an undercount of actual costs, mortality and morbidity, since the study looked only at the impact of PM10 and to a lesser extent PM2.5.

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