Fifth of deaths in India blamed on 'ignored issue' of dire air pollution

The number of deaths linked to India's dire air quality rose to 1.7 million in 2019. Photo / 123rf

As many as one in five deaths recorded in India last year can be attributed to air pollution, according to a study in The Lancet.

The number of people dying from conditions linked to the country's dire air quality rose to 1.7 million in 2019.

Most residents of India's mega cities cannot afford air purifiers or to regularly purchase N95 masks which filter out harmful particles. Instead, they breathe in the heavily toxic air every day, which can have a variety of adverse impacts on their health.

According to The Lancet study, lung disease is the most common cause of death but pollution has also caused rising levels of fatal heart disease, strokes and diabetes.

Indians took to social media to point out that air pollution was a "hidden pandemic" - killing more than 10 times the number of people who died from Covid-19 - but the issue was being ignored.

Indians describe air pollution as a "hidden pandemic". Photo / 123rf

"Air pollution causes direct damage to the airways of the respiratory system by damaging the fine hair-like structures which keep them clean, by clearing secretions, particles, and infective organisms," said Dr Sumit Ray, the head of department in critical care medicine at the Holy Family Hospital in Delhi.

"This leads to an increased propensity to get lung infections and an inability to clear those infections."

India is home to 21 out of the world's 30 most polluted cities and the Air Quality Index in its capital of New Delhi exceeded 1300 in November, more than 20 times the World Health Organisation's safe limit.

While the study found indoor or household pollution has fallen in India since 1990, largely through a reduction in the burning of wood in cooking and heating homes, the death rate from outside or ambient air pollution increased by 115 per cent.

India's economy has largely been powered by burning cheap fossil fuels. Photo / AP

India's economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the world over the past decade, lifting at least 270 million people out of poverty since 2005 - but this rapid growth has largely been powered by burning cheap fossil fuels.

India uses more non-renewable energy than any other country besides China and the US and relies particularly on coal. But the report by The Lancet found air pollution is having an adverse impact on economic growth as premature deaths caused by toxic air reduced India's GDP by 1.4 per cent, or $47 billion, in 2019.

More than 50,000 new vehicles are being registered for use on India's roads every day.

New Delhi, home to approximately 30 million people, is the world's most polluted capital city, and the toxic air there peaks during the winter after thousands of farmers in surrounding states burn their crop stubble.