The Atlas Institute has announced that Kosovo tops the list of European countries with the most premature deaths per million inhabitants due to air pollution.
In a Facebook post, consequently, in the published graphic, Kosovo is first on the list with the number of deaths per million inhabitants due to M2.5 pollution, followed by Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
According to the Atlas Institute announcement, air pollution comes from traffic, industry, and fuel combustion.
“PM2.5 are tiny particles in the air—30 times smaller than a strand of hair—that penetrate deep into the lungs and into the bloodstream. They come from traffic, industry, and the burning of fuels, causing heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke.
Cleaner air = longer, healthier lives!
Weeks ago, the National Institute of Public Health emphasized that air pollution is considered a risk to human health, especially for sensitive groups and those with diseases of the airways and respiratory organs.
The institute explained that the short-term health effects of air pollution on health: illnesses, hospitalizations, health complications and deaths, while the long-term health effects: morbidity, lung cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.
“The leading causes of death and disease associated with air pollution are: ischemic heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis, emphysema, eye and respiratory system irritation, especially asthma attacks, and lung cancer.”
“WHO data shows that air pollution causes almost 500.000 premature deaths each year worldwide. Approximately 290.000 of these deaths occur in high-income countries, while 190.000 deaths occur in middle- and low-income countries,” it further states.
