Jakarta is facing serious air pollution. (Photo: thejakartapost.com) Jakarta (VNA) –Indonesia has the fourth-highest number of premature pollution-related deathsin the world, according to a report by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution(GAHP).
The Pollution and HealthMetrics report revealed that over 230,000 Indonesians die every year because ofexposure to toxic air, water or soil, or other forms ofpollution.
Of the deaths, 123,753 wereattributed to air pollution, 60,040 towater pollution, 16,331 to occupational pollution, and32,850 from lead pollution due to exposure to emissions from leaded gasoline.
However, thetotal deaths were far below India and China, both of which recordedmore than 1.8 million deaths, and slightly lower than Nigeria.
Countries ranked below Indonesia in the top 10 includePakistan, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. In terms of the death rate, Indonesia ranked75th in the world with 88 pollution-related deaths recorded per 100,000people.
The report draws its data from theInstitute for Health Metrics’ (IHME) 2017 Global Burden of Disease Study,noting that pollution remains the largest environmental cause of prematuredeaths by killing 8.3 million people, or nearly one death in seven globally,that year.
Pollution kills three times as manypeople a year as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Pollution isresponsible for 15 times the number of deaths caused by war and other forms ofviolence each year, the report says.
Rising modernpollution, caused by industrialisation and urbanisation, is responsible for 5.3million of the global pollution-related deaths a year, the report notes. Airpollution is responsible for 40 percent of all pollution-relateddeaths, or an estimated 3.4 million deaths a year./.
VNA
