New Delhi: Air pollution is not only causing diseases but also reducing our age. The latest air quality life index (AQLI) report claims that the average age will increase by 5.6 years if India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal manage to clean air quality as per World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Otherwise, so much age will be reduced. The most polluted cities are Delhi and Kolkata, where people can lose nine years of age.

According to the AQLI report released on Tuesday, freedom from air pollution could give the world an increase of two years in the mean age and five years for the most polluted countries. The report noted that in 2019, India's average particulate matter concentration was 70.3 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), the highest in the world and seven times the World Health Organization's (WHO) guideline of 10 μg/m3. According to the report, a quarter of the world's people live in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. And they are included in the five most populated countries of the world. 48 crore people in India live in the Gangetic plain, where pollution levels are extremely high.

According to the AQLI, the intensity of the estimated effects of pollution is far greater across North India. This is the area where the level of air pollution is among the highest in the world. If pollution condensation continues as in 2019, people living in this region, which also includes metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata, will lose more than nine years of their lives.

Finance Minister Bugna Rajendranath Reddy met the Union Finance Minister on Tuesday.

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