Airpocalypse In China: 1.2 Million Deaths Blamed On Air Pollution

There may be an airpocalypse in China.

According to a new report, more than 1 million people died prematurely due to air pollution in China during 2010.

But the airpocalypse isn’t centered squarely over China. The 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study states that 3.2 million deaths in 2010 were related to pollution. More than 1.2 million of those deaths were in China.

Researchers presented the study at a forum in Beijing on Sunday. The authors of the study, who came from the World Health Organization and several universities, said that the air pollution in China cut “25 million healthy years” from the Chinese population in 2010.

Yahoo News reports that the Chinese government has reportedly been trying to stop some of the reports from being released to the public. In 2007, large sections of a report entitled “Cost of Pollution in China” were cut out by state officials.

The NY Times writes: “Calculations of premature deaths because of outdoor air pollution are politically threatening in the eyes of some Chinese officials. According to news reports, Chinese officials cut out sections of a 2007 report called “Cost of Pollution in China” that discussed premature deaths.”

China may be trying to stop the information from spreading but that doesn’t mean that the air pollution is getting any better.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said last month that “urban air pollution” could soon become the top environmental cause of mortality. The OECD predicts that air pollution will overtake water sanitation by the year 2050.