Air pollution now linked to 1 in 8 deaths worldwide, UN health agency reports

25 March 2014 – Air pollution – both indoor and outdoor – killed some 7 million people across the globe in 2012, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk, according to new figures released today by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
“The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes,” said Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

Pollution kills 7 million people every year. -WHO

Air pollution kills about 7 million people worldwide every year, with more than half of the fatalities due to fumes from indoor stoves, according to a new report from the World Health Organization published today (March 25).
The agency said air pollution is the cause of about one in eight deaths and has now become the single biggest environmental health risk.

“We all have to breathe, which makes pollution very hard to avoid,” said Professor Frank Kelly, director of the environmental research group at King’s College London, who was not part of the WHO report.