Study: air pollution will shorten the lives of today's children by 20 months.

     

    Newborn babies who now breathe polluted air will live a shorter life. Poor environmental conditions will shorten their lives by 20 months, in some countries - by more than three years. These conclusions were reached by the international organization State of Global Air, writes The Guardian. 😢

     In 2019, air pollution was among the top five causes of early death worldwide, with about 7 million cases recorded. This is more than from smoking, malaria and poor hygiene. In the most affected countries, people often inhale harmful substances along with smoke when cooking and heating their homes.
Cities in India lead the air pollution ranking. Their atmosphere contains 20 times more particulate matter than the WHO recommends. High levels of pollution are also recorded in Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Cairo (Egypt) and Kampala (Uganda). In many African cities, it was not possible to assess the extent of the problem due to lack of data.