Air pollution exposure is the second most important risk factor for ill health in South Asia, contributing to between 13% and 21.7% of all deaths and approximately 58 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) through chronic and acute respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.1 Of the top 30 cities in the world with the poorest air quality in 2016, 17 are in South Asia.2 The impact of air pollution transcends boundaries. The “brown cloud”—caused by pollution from carbon aerosols—is a phenomenon captured in satellite images of atmospheric haze over South Asia, as well as China.

This landmark study published in Lancer finds that toxic air, water, soils and workplaces kill at least 9 millon people and cost trillions of dollars every year. Pollution kills more people in India than anywhere else in the world revealed the study.