Air pollution is killing 3.3 million people a year worldwide, according to a new study. The study also found that, in industrial countries, farming plays a large role in smog and soot deaths.
Detailed estimates of the mortality rate due to air pollution and the causes of air pollution were calculated by researchers in Germany, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and, in the United States, at Harvard University. Air pollution kills more than HIV and malaria combined.
If no changes are made in the factors that cause air pollution, the yearly death total could be about 6.6 million a year by 2050, the researchers reported.
About 75% of the deaths are from strokes and heart attacks that were caused by pollution. The researchers used health statistics and computer models to come up with their findings.
With nearly 1.4 million deaths a year, China has the most air pollution fatalities, followed by India with 645,000 and Pakistan with 110,000.
The United States is in seventh place, with 54,905 deaths in 2010 due to soot and smog. According to the study, agriculture caused 16,221 of those U.S. deaths, second only to the 16,929 deaths blamed on power plants. In the Northeast United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, and South Korea, agriculture is the leading cause of deaths due to soot and smog, according to the study. Worldwide, agriculture is the second leading cause with 664,100 deaths. In the central United States, the main cause of premature deaths due to soot and smog is power plants; in much of the West, it is caused by traffic emissions.
Agricultural air pollution is caused by the ammonia emitted by fertilizer and animal waste. This ammonia combines with sulfates from coal-burning power plants and with nitrates from car exhaust to form soot particles that are the killers.
One million deaths are caused globally in developing world by heating and cooking using in the home using wood and other biofuels.