A recent study has revealed that over two million deaths occur each year as a direct result of human-caused outdoor air pollution.
The study conducted by researchers from North Carolina University suggests that changing climate has a minimal effect and only accounts for a small proportion of current deaths related to air pollution.
According to the study, around 470,000 people die each year because of human-caused increases in ozone and around 2.1 million deaths are caused each year by human-caused increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which are tiny particles suspended in the air that can penetrate deep into the lungs, causing cancer and other respiratory disease.
Co-author of the study, Jason West, said that the estimates make outdoor air pollution among the most important environmental risk factors for health and many of these deaths are estimated to occur in East Asia and South Asia, where population is high and air pollution is severe.
The study suggests that the number of these deaths that can be attributed to changes in the climate since the industrial era is, however, relatively small. It estimates that a changing climate results in 1500 deaths due to ozone and 2200 deaths related to PM2.5 each year.
West further said that the study found that the effects of past climate change are likely to be a very small component of the overall effect of air pollution adding that the study found that there is significant uncertainty based on the spread among different atmospheric models.