On Jun. 19, 2024, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) released a comprehensive new report that details health impacts of air pollution, which has moved ahead of tobacco and poor diet as a risk factor for death. Produced for the first time in partnership with UNICEF, the report found that children under five years old are especially vulnerable, with health effects including premature birth, low birth weight, asthma and lung diseases. 

The report found air pollution accounted for 8.1 million deaths globally in 2021. Beyond these deaths, many more millions of people are living with debilitating chronic diseases, putting tremendous strains on health care systems, economies, and societies.

In 2021, exposure to air pollution was linked to more than 700,000 deaths of children under five years old, making it the second-leading risk factor for death globally for this age group, after malnutrition. A staggering 500,000 of these child deaths were linked to household air pollution due to cooking indoors with polluting fuels, mostly in Africa and Asia.