Air pollution exposure was responsible for 7 million premature deaths in 2012, according to a recent WHO report.
This new statistics is more than double of previous estimates, confirming that air pollution is now the world's largest single environmental health risk, WHO reported in a news release.
"The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes," said Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO's Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health in a statement. "Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe."
Researchers were able to determine a stronger link between air pollution (indoor and outdoor) and cardiovascular diseases (strokes and ischaemic heart disease) and cancer. Air pollution also plays a major role in the development of respiratory diseases including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
