GENEVA—More than nine out of 10 people worldwide live in areas with excessive air pollution, contributing to problems like strokes, heart disease and lung cancer, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. The country-by-country figures come from new satellite data over rural areas to complement traditional ground measurements of pollution, mostly in cities, in about 3,000 places worldwide. A similar WHO report released in May that said 98 per cent of residents in large cities of low- and middle-income countries are facing excessively high air pollution. WHO says one in nine deaths worldwide is linked to indoor and outdoor pollution. Tuesday’s report focuses on outdoor air pollution, which is estimated to kill about 3 million people per year based on 2012 figures, the most recent available.

Source: thestar September 27, 2016 23:03 UTC