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3h ago

Air Pollution Cuts 3.5 Years From Average Indian’s Life as Delhi Faces 8.2-Year Hit, AQLI Says

AQLI’s 2025 analysis links 2023 PM2.5 exposure to large life‑expectancy losses using satellite data.

A wildfire burns on Mount Underwood near Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on August 12, 2025
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People swim, play and walk in Kelowna City Park in B.C. in August 2023, amid 34 C temperature and air quality index of 10+, due to smoke from a wildfire about 83 kilometres southwest. A new report released today found that Canada experienced its worst pollution levels since 1998, with more than half of Canadians breathing air that surpassed our national standard.

Overview

  • EPIC’s Air Quality Life Index 2025 report, released August 28, uses 2023 satellite-derived PM2.5 data and finds the national average at 41 µg/m³, higher than in 2022.
  • All 1.4 billion Indians live in areas exceeding the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³, and meeting that level would add 3.5 years to average life expectancy.
  • Delhi recorded 88.4 µg/m³ PM2.5 in 2023, corresponding to an estimated 8.2 years of life lost for the average resident.
  • The Northern Plains, home to about 544 million people, could gain roughly five years of life on average if air met the WHO guideline.
  • Reaching the NCAP goal of a 40% particulate reduction by 2026 in 130 cities would add about two years to residents’ lives relative to 2017, while 46% of Indians live above the national PM2.5 standard with a potential 1.5-year gain by meeting it.