Air pollution health effects: how city air is killing you
Do you wonder about lingering air pollution health effects? Air pollution is an alarming problem in urban areas, and we are learning just how harmful bad air can be. This infographic compiles statistics and research on air pollution health effects. Some of these facts may surprise you, but don’t take our word for it. Official sources for data and additional notes appear afterwards so that you can dig deeper on your own.
Notes on air pollution health effects
1. A study from MIT found that 200,000 Americans die from air pollution related complications each year.
2. US military casualties of war statistics vary from source to source, but these are from Wikipedia.
3. “The Global Burden of Disease from Air Pollution” report indicates that air pollution is the fourth leading cause of deaths worldwide.
4. The World Bank reports that 1 in 10 deaths worldwide was caused by air pollution in 2013.
5. The World Health Organization lists disease frequencies caused by ambient air pollution.
6. The World Bank reports air pollution mortality by age.
7. Outdoor air pollution is an IARC Group 1 carcinogen. The IARC forms part of the World Health Organization.
8. Richard Muller, Berkeley Earth’s scientific director, made the controversial claim that living in Beijing, China was equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day. This statement has been debated vigorously, but the initial spirit of the claim is likely reasonable. Muller later clarified that while the physical mass of pollutant is not likely the same, the toxicity may be equivalent.
9. A report in the scientific journal Environmental Science and Technology found that 29% of San Francisco air pollution may come from China.
10. The American Lung Association found that over 40% of Americans breathe unhealthy air.
11. The American Lung Association regularly compiles the cleanest and most polluted American cities. The rankings may fluctuate over the years, but the top winners are losers are usually the same.
This infographic was designed using Piktochart, a web-based design tool.
What to do about polluted city air?
We have many more articles planned on healthy city living. In the future, we will cover different ways to stay healthy using technology and lifestyle choices. Stay healthy and sign up for our mailing list or just leave a comment on what you think.