Air Pollution Kills 200,000 Americans Every Year

We know that air pollution causes the early deaths of millions of people around the globe every year. But even in the United States, which has comparatively decent air pollution control laws, and has made remarkable improvements in air quality in the past half century, outdoor air pollution still kills 200,000 people each year, a new MIT study shows.

Looking at data from 2005, the most recent year for which data was available, the researchers found that the typical person whose life is cut short from dirty air dies about ten years sooner than they might have otherwise. Though this data is now some eight years old, the researchers say the results are still likely representative of conditions today.

The study broke down the death toll to specific sources of air pollution. Pollution caused by road transportation caused the most deaths: 53,000 per year. Trailing very close behind were deaths attributable to electricity generation, at 52,000 per year. Other economic sectors such as industrial pollution, marine pollution, rail pollution, and commercial and residential heating comprise the remaining fatalities.

California leads the nation in premature deaths from air pollution, some 21,000 annually, with road transportation, and commercial and residential heating being the leading causes.

In terms of specific cities, Baltimore has the greatest percentage of deaths, with 130 out 100,000 residents in a particular year meeting their end because of air pollution.

As you can see in the image above, each cause of air pollution the study examined has regionally distinct effects. The hot spot of deaths from electricity generation in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and top tier of the South directly relates to the amount of coal used in electricity generation, as well as its comparably high sulphur content to coal used elsewhere. Deaths from pollution caused by cars and trucks are centered around areas of high population density in the Midwest, the Northeast, and Southern California. Deaths from industrial pollution are higher east of the Mississippi, with hot spots along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.

None of this should be particular surprising for anyone with even a casual grasp of how people, industry, and development are distributed across the United States. Nevertheless, in graphic format it is striking.

The finding that air pollution from cars and trucks proportionally causes so many deaths fits in with the trend globally. A study published in the Lancet found that deaths from car-related pollution are on the rise, particularly in Asia. Of the 3.2 million people each year who die prematurely from air pollution, 2.1 million of them are in Asia. This correlates to the dramatic rise in car ownership in India in China since the mid-1990s.

Even more sobering than the 3.2 million air pollution deaths—more than are killed by AIDS and malaria combined, and a world record—is the fact that as recently as 2000, air pollution was responsible for just 800,000 deaths each year. Now it's the fastest-growing killer in the world.