The Impact of Fine Particulate Outdoor Air Pollution to Premature Mortality

Epidemiological cohort studies have shown that the long-term exposure to PM2.5 is associated with increased mortality from cardiorespiratory diseases and lung cancer. We use an atmospheric chemistry-general circulation model in combination with population data, country-level health statistics and pollution exposure response functions to investigate the link between premature mortality and several emission source categories, combining all aerosol types that contribute to PM2.5. We estimate the global premature mortality by PM2.5 at 3.15 million/year in 2010. We find that high emissions levels mainly from residential energy use have the largest impact on premature mortality in Eastern and Southeastern Asia (almost 70 % of the global), with China and India being the counties with higher mortality levels attributable. For Europe we estimate 375 thousand premature deaths (about 11 % of the global rate), and 274 thousand deaths for the Eastern Mediterranean region in 2010. In this work we assume that all particles are equally toxic.