City Desk :
Bangladesh is the world’s most polluted country and fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) shortens the average Bangladeshi resident’s life expectancy by 4.8 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 µg/m³ was met, says a new global report released on Wednesday.
Some areas of Bangladesh fare much worse than others, such as the Gazipur and Narsingdi districts, where air pollution is shortening lives by more than 6 years, it said, reports UNB.
All of Bangladesh’s 166.4 million people live in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds both the WHO guideline and 96.8 percent of the country’s population live in regions that don’t meet the country’s own national standard of 35 µg/m³. Even in the least polluted district of Sylhet, particulate pollution is 6.7 times the WHO guideline.
While particulate pollution takes 4.8 years off the life of the average Bangladeshi, tobacco use takes off 2 years and child and maternal malnutrition takes off 1.4 years.
In 2022, particulate pollution was 22 percent lower relative to 2021-a contrast to the increasing trend between 2015-2021. If the reduction in 2022 is sustained, an average Bangladeshi resident would live 1 year longer compared to what they would if they were exposed to the average pollution levels over the last decade.
In some of the most polluted districts of the country spread across the states of Dhaka and Chittagong, 75.9 million residents or 45.6 percent of Bangladesh’s population are on track to lose 5.4 years of life expectancy on average relative to the WHO guideline.
If Bangladesh were to reduce particulate pollution to meet the WHO guideline, residents in Dhaka-the most populous district in Bangladesh-would gain 5.6 years of life expectancy. In Chittagong-the country’s second most populous district-residents would gain 5.2 years. Even if pollution levels in Dhaka and Chittagong were to meet Bangladesh’s national standard, life expectancy in these districts would increase by 2.6 and 2.3 years, respectively.
While pollution slightly dipped due largely to a trend reversal in South Asia, more than three-quarters of countries around the world have not set or aren’t meeting national pollution standards.
Though global pollution was slightly lower in 2022, its burden on life expectancy remains, according to new data from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI).
If the world were to permanently reduce fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline, the average person would add 1.9 years onto their life expectancy-or a combined 14.9 billion life-years saved worldwide.
This data makes clear that particulate pollution is the world’s greatest external risk to human health. Its impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than 4 times that of high alcohol use, more than 5 times that of transport injuries like car crashes, and more than 6 times that of HIV/AIDS.
Yet, the pollution challenge worldwide is vastly unequal, with people living in the most polluted places on earth breathing air that is six times more polluted than the air breathed by those living in the least polluted places-and seeing their lives cut short by 2.7 years more because of it.
“While air pollution remains a global problem, its largest impacts are concentrated in a relatively small number of countries-cutting lives short several years in some places and even more than 6 years in some regions,” says Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and creator of the AQLI along with colleagues at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).