18,000 last gasps every day

An important part of vehicle inspections is making sure vehicles are safe for both the driver and others. Not only by making certain vehicles do not constitute an accident risk, but also by seeing to it that they stay within limits when it comes to air pollution.

Because the fact of the matter is, air pollution kills more people than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and traffic accidents together. In total, around 18,000 people die from air pollution every day compared to around 3,400 in traffic accidents.
The most dangerous country is Georgia.
When the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled its report, it counted the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The report also gives the risk – or odds if you like – of an individual’s dying from air pollution over the course of a year.

The five most dangerous countries are (deaths per 100,000):
1. Georgia (292 per 100,000)
2. North Korea (234 per 100,000)
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina (224 per 100,000)
4. Bulgaria (175 per 100,000)
5. Albania (171 per 100,000)
The list differs from others in that it takes account of all air pollutants and not just particulates, which is why Georgia is at the top of the WHO list. If we only measure particulates, Pakistan moves to the top of the list.

Focused efforts reduce risk
The good news is we can fight back – in the USA and Europe the number of deaths is falling. The bad news is, it is rising in a number of countries, especially in Asia and Africa, even though there are naturally great variations within continents.
Take Europe, for example. Generally speaking, Scandinavia is doing very well, with places in the bottom (best) tier. At the same time, parts of Eastern Europe are a long way up the list, with Georgia in first place with almost 300 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, and Bulgaria in fourth place. Incidentally, China is in sixth place with 150 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
The biggest source of hazardous air pollution is actually cooking using e.g. kerosene, wood or coal, something that is very common in many African and Asian countries.