Around 4.2 million people died due to air pollution in 2016, levels were 2.5 times higher than safety standard: UN report

United Nations: A United Nations report published on Wednesday said in 2016, an estimated 4.2 million people died as a result of high levels of ambient air pollution. [caption id=“attachment_4559561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “In 2016, 91 percent of the urban population worldwide was breathing air that did not meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines value for particulate matter (PM 2.5); more than half were exposed to air pollution levels that were at least 2.5 times higher than that of the safety standard,” said the 2018 Sustainable Development Goals Report launched at the UN headquarters in New York. Many cities around the world were facing acute challenges in managing rapid urbanization — from ensuring adequate housing and infrastructure, to support growing populations and confronting the environmental impact of urban sprawl, to reducing vulnerability to disasters, according to the report. Between 2000 and 2014, the proportion of the global urban population living in slums dropped from 28.4 percent to 22.8 percent. However, the actual number of people living in slums increased from 807 million to 883 million.