More than 90 percent of pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The situation in India is dramatic, the study authors report in the journal “Lancet Planetary Health”: There, many people live close together, water pollution and, above all, air pollution associated with traffic pollution is very high.

In early 2015, the so-called “Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health” conducted an analysis of premature deaths from environmental pollution. At that time, sources of pollution such as household air pollution, water pollution, and inadequate sanitation were the drivers of mortality statistics. “Now mainly air pollution in the environment and heavy metal exposure,” said Prof. Dr. Stephan Böse-O’Reilly of LMU Klinikum Munich. According to the researchers, more people died from lead alone than from malaria.

EU lowers pollution

In the EU, on the other hand, pollution is a relatively minor issue. Air pollution in particular has increased as a result of various regulatory measures. “That’s why we have relatively few deaths from environmental pollution, certainly not from mercury or lead, and if so, then from fine dust in the outside air,” says Böse-O’Reilly. On the other hand, Europe is in a good position as industrial production has shifted to poorer countries. “If you close an aluminum plant in the North Sea and reopen it in Asia, the associated exposure becomes a health problem for the people there, but we continue to use the product,” Böse-O’Reilly emphasizes. “If we are to give people years of healthier lives, politics must address the global problem of environmental pollution,” the scientist demands.