The results of a new research revealed that, globally, 2.9 years of life expectancy on average are lost because of outdoor air pollution — a bigger toll than tobacco smoking (2.2 years lost), violence (0.3 years lost), HIV/Aids (0.7 years lost) and diseases spread by parasites and other vectors (0.6 years lost). Researchers said should avoidable outdoor air pollution be cut, more than 5.5 million early deaths globally could be avoided every year.

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