Every year in Italy about 30 thousand people die as a result of air pollution, in particular just because of the particulate matter (PM 2.5), a figure equivalent to 7% of all deaths (excluding accidents).

In terms of months of life lost, this means that the pollution shortens average life of each of us of about ten months; 14 for those who live in the North, 6.6 for the inhabitants of the center and 5.7 in the South and Islands.

The only respect legal limits would save 11 thousand lives a year.

These are the most relevant results emerging from the project "Integrated Evaluation of the Impact on Environment Atmospheric Pollution and Health" (VIIAS), funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CCM) of the Ministry of Health and coordinated by the Department of Epidemiology of the Service Regional Health of Lazio, in collaboration with universities and research centers: ENEA, ISPRA, ARPA Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Lazio, Department of Statistics, University of Florence, University of Urbino and the Department of Environmental Biology, University La Sapienza Rome.

The CCM VIIAS project results were presented on 4 June in Rome, a few days after the resolution on air pollution, adopted by the 68th World Health Assembly, in which the emphasis was placed on the negative impacts of pollution on health, urging governments to take immediate and urgent action.

Further information: