Publications

Introduction

Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease, and is the largest environmental health threat globally.1–5 Besides endangering health and shortening lifespan, air pollution adversely affects economic productivity.6,7 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for reduction of the burden of deaths and diseases from air pollution.8

Air pollution risks are typically quantified for ambient particulate matter pollution, household air pollution, and, to a smaller extent, tropospheric ozone. The main sources of ambient particulate matter pollution in India are residential and commercial biomass burning, windblown mineral dust, coal burning for energy generation, industrial emissions, agricultural stubble burning, waste burning, construction activities, brick kilns, transport vehicles, and diesel generators.9–16 Household air pollution is caused mainly by the use of solid fuels for cooking, such as wood, dung, agricultural residues, coal, and charcoal.17–19 Ground-level ambient ozone is produced when pollutants emitted from transport vehicles, power plants, factories, and other sources react in the presence of sunlight with hydrocarbons emitted from diverse sources.20

Evidence of the adverse effects of air pollution on health has been growing in India.21 Studies from India have shown that short-term and long-term exposure are associated with disease burden and mortality.22–25 The India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative has reported detailed findings on exposure to air pollution and its impacts on deaths, disease burden, and life expectancy in the states of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2017.21 Improved methods and new data used in GBD 2019 have led to revised estimates of the impact of air pollution on deaths and disease burden.26 In this Article, we present these updated estimates for India and its states.