Report says air pollution shortens Romanians’ lives by more than eight months

Air pollution is reducing human life expectancy by several months and the Romanians are among the most affected, according to a Lancet Countdown global report on the relationship between health and climate change.

The report says that the toxic air shortens the lives of Romanians, Hungarians and Poles by more than eight months, local Hotnews.ro reported. By comparison, in the EU the average is 5-7 months.

The Lancet Countdown 2019 Report on health and climate change shows that climate change is already affecting the health of the world's children and will shape the well being of an entire generation if the world fails to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

Air pollution is already dangerously high in 90% of cities and will seriously affect the newborns’ health, the report says. As children grow, food insecurity will increase, and children will be affected by malnutrition.

A 2018 report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) revealed that there were over 27,000 premature deaths because of air pollution in Romania in 2015.

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