Singapore study links air pollution to 135 million premature deaths

The study is one of the most expansive to date, using 40 years of data to give a big-picture view of the effects of air quality on health

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Haze shrouds the Singapore Flyer observation wheel and Marina Bay Sands in 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 1:43pm, 11 Jun 2024

Pollution from man-made emissions and other sources like wildfires have been linked to around 135 million premature deaths worldwide between 1980 and 2020, a Singapore university study found.

Weather phenomena like El Nino and the Indian Ocean Dipole worsened the effects of these pollutants by intensifying their concentration in the air, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University said, unveiling the results of a study led by its researchers.

The tiny particles called particulate matter 2.5, or “PM 2.5”, are harmful to human health when inhaled because they are small enough to enter the bloodstream. They come from vehicle and industrial emissions as well as natural sources like fires and dust storms.

Women in Indonesia’s Aceh province wear masks in 2019 amid thick haze caused by smog-belching forest fires. Photo: AFP

The fine particulate matter “was associated with approximately 135 million premature deaths globally” from 1980 to 2020, the university said on Monday in a statement on the study, published in the journal Environment International.

It found that people were dying younger than the average life expectancy from diseases or conditions that could have been treated or prevented, including stroke, heart and lung disease, and cancer.

Weather patterns increased the deaths by 14 per cent, the study found.

Asia had the “highest number of premature deaths attributable to PM 2.5 pollution” at more than 98 million people, mostly in China and India, the university said.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Japan also had significant numbers of premature deaths, ranging from 2 to 5 million people, it added.