A Shocker From Her Majesty’s Kingdom: How Many People Lost Their Lives In London Due To Polluted Air In 2019?

A series of websites, all dedicated to gauging the quality of the London air are often the common vantage points when it comes to assessing just how good or bad the state of pollution is. There are websites like London Air, then the website of the actual London government. And not just that; there are also informative sites like the aqicn (air quality index) that tell you the variations in the quality of London air.

In a city where there sits proudly an air of cool vibe, it being the multi-cultural hotbed like few other cities of the world, the common talking point right now in England’s world-famous capital is the pollution in London.

And the one thing that truly gives rise to a different kind of emotional expression instead of the usual thrill and fanfare that so commonly define the spirit of London is the thing called grimace.

Well, actually make that a facepalm! Of course, one needs to take care of the times we are in, right (thank god for these social media expressions)

Wondering how?

Well, as much of 2020 was swept away by an unforgiving wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, England, which is still grappling with the Coronavirus amid the lockdown and restrictions, was countering a different menace a year back.

And that precisely brings us to the question that what was ill about 2019 that has only just made surprising news?

Any major publication or news outlet that brings up updates about one of the world’s most famous and thriving cities (of all time) will surely tell you what is not a pleasant news to read.

If you thought that air pollution was a troubling subject for much of the developed world (on the planet) then you are certainly wrong. Turns out that air pollution in London is about persistent as the familiar black taxis and the enterprising brand of cricket played at Lord’s.

It appears that in 2019, the poor quality of air in London took as may as 4,000 lives.

Now surely, one look at this piece of news and one cannot allow the self to be humbled by other promising and positive slices of news that deal with hype and buck-spinning hoopla- right?

Here’s what a prominent news outlet had to say in regards to this saddevelopment:

In 2019, around 4,000 deaths in London could be attributed to air pollution, with the highest number of fatalities recorded in the city’s outer boroughs, according to a new study.

Commissioned by the Transport for London and the Greater London Authority, researchers from the Imperial’s School of Public Health’s Environmental Research Group found that “if London is enabled to meet the WHO (World Health Organization) guideline for PM2.5 by 2030, the population in London would gain a 20 per cent increase in life years saved over the next 20 years”.

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The researchers predicted in the report that London specific air quality policies, alongside wider improvements in air quality, “will increase the average life expectancy of a child born in London in 2013 by six months, compared with 2013 concentrations remaining unchanged”.