More than 7% of all deaths in India’s ten largest cities are linked to air pollution, according to a comprehensive study released today. Leading scientists are calling for measures to save tens of thousands of lives each year.

Smog-plagued Indian cities, including the capital New Delhi, are among the world’s most polluted.

In this new study, a team led by Indian scientists examined levels of cancer-causing fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla, and Varanasi.

From 2008 to 2019, more than 33,000 deaths per year were attributed to exposure to PM2.5 levels higher than the permissible limit of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

This accounts for 7.2% of recorded deaths in these cities during that period, according to research published in the scientific journal The Lancet Planetary Health.

The worst-affected city was the capital, New Delhi, with 12,000 annual deaths, or 11.5% of the total deaths, attributed to air pollution.

Even in cities where air pollution is not considered as severe, such as Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, death rates remain high. Researchers are calling for stricter air quality regulations.

The current permissible limit in India is 60 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter, which is four times higher than WHO recommendations.

Lowering and enforcing this limit “would save tens of thousands of lives annually,” commented Joel Schwartz of Harvard University, one of the study’s authors.

According to the WHO, almost every inhabitant of the planet inhales more than the permissible amount of air pollution, which can cause stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and other respiratory diseases.