STATE OF GLOBAL AIR (SOGA) 2024 (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Env and Eco)

Context: The recently released State of Global Air (SoGA) 2024 report, which includes data from 2021, highlights the devastating impact of polluted air on the youngest and most vulnerable populations, revealing that air pollution contributed to 169,400 deaths among children under five in India, among the highest globally.

State of Global Air (SoGA) 2024

• About: It a collaborative assessment by the US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project.
• Partnership: For the first time, this report has been produced in partnership with UNICEF.
• Countries: Approximately 200 countries.
• Objective: To cut toxic emissions at source and also the greenhouse has emissions to maximise the co-benefits of reducing public health risks and the warming impacts.

Key Findings

• Air pollution has become the second largest killer globally, after blood pressure, causing 8.1 million deaths in 2021.
• In South Asia alone, 2.6 million deaths were attributed to air pollution.
• India's Burden: India, with a population of over one billion, recorded 2.1 million deaths due to air pollution, including 237,000 ozone-related deaths.

oRising Vulnerability in the Global South

oIndia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil have seen significant increases in ambient ozone exposures over the past decade.

oIndia and China together accounted for nearly 55% of the global particulate matter disease burden, with 2.1 million and 2.3 million deaths respectively in 2021.

• High Death Rate: Despite a 53% drop in death rates since 2000 due to cleaner cooking energy, better healthcare, and increased awareness, air pollution remains a significant threat.
• Childhood Asthma: Exposure to NO2 from traffic exhaust is a leading cause of childhood asthma, with 55% of 194 countries not meeting WHO air quality guidelines.
• High NO2 Exposure in Wealthy Nations: Seven out of ten countries with the highest NO2 exposures are high-income countries in West Asia, Russia, and Turkey.
• Regional Ozone Exposure: Countries in West Asia, South Asia, and East Asia reported the highest average ozone exposures in 2020, with South Asia accounting for 56% of all global ozone deaths in 2021.