More than 90% of citizens in the European region are exposed to annual levels of outdoor fine particulate matter above WHOвЂ™s air quality guidelines. The highest was in Bulgaria, which spent an estimated 29.5% of its GDP on the costs of air pollution fatalities. Elsewhere in Europe, the figures were Germany $145bn, and France $53bn. The UK was estimated to have suffered $83bn (ВЈ54bn) in costs associated with air pollution. In Europe the pollution is relatively clear in places like Germany, France and Britain, except for the diesel, but in eastern Europe, where they still have old industries, it is still very bad.вЂќДЄfter years of being discounted as an unavoidable cost of economic progress, air pollution is rising up the political and economic agendas, as developing countries grasp that the crisis threatens to cripple their economies and lead to simmering dissent.ДЄccording to a recent WHO study, the cost of disease and the premature deaths caused in Europe every year by air pollution was more than $1.6trillion in 2010, nearly 10% of the gross domestic product of the EU in 2013. We know that places like Tehran are very polluted. вЂњWe suspect that many African cities have terrible pollution problems, but there is very little data. вЂњAs the world urbanises, the pollution grows,вЂќ says Frank Kelly, director of environmental health research at KingвЂ™s College London. Of the worst 100, nearly 70 were in Asia and only a handful in Europe or the US.Д«ut the WHO figures include only those cities that measure air pollution, and many of the worst offenders do not. The others were in Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh. At the last count in 2014, 15 out of the 20 most polluted places were in India and China. New WHO figures on 2,000 cities, to be released next month, will show pollution worsening in many countries. This compares with about 180,000 a year in Europe. They include 1.4 million people a year in China and 650,000 in India. Milan, Naples, Barcelona and some other cities in Spain declared an emergency and banned traffic for several days over Christmas PolandвЂ™s most popular mountain resort, Zakopane, was choked in fumes and several London streets breached their annual limits for nitrogen dioxide just days into 2016.ДЄccording to a recent study in Nature, led by Johannes Lelieveld, director of the Max Planck Institute for chemistry in Germany, more people now die from air pollution than malaria and HIV combined. The problem is most acute in Asia, but many industrialised countries have been hit by smog this winter.

Nearly 70% of people in cities are exposed to pollution above recommended levels.вЂќ Now there are huge numbers of people living with high levels of pollution. In the 19th century pollution was bad, but it was concentrated in just a few places. вЂњThis is the first generation in human experience exposed to such high levels of pollution. вЂњItвЂ™s bad now, but we just donвЂ™t know what will happen in future,вЂќ says MarГa Neira, WHO public health chief. The toxic haze blanketing cities was observed last week from the international space station. The consequence is a global crisis that threatens to overwhelm countriesвЂ™ economies as people succumb to heart and respiratory diseases, blood vessel conditions, strokes, lung cancers and other long-term illnesses.

In Delhi, where there are nearly nine million vehicles, the high court has compared conditions to вЂњliving in a gas chamberвЂќ Beijing and 10 other Chinese cities have issued red alert warnings in Tehran, where the chairman of the city council, Mehdi Chamran, says air pollution kills up to 180 people a day, the smog has been so bad that schools have been closed and sports banned.ДЄccording to the World Health Organisation, the toxic fumes of growing numbers of diesel cars are combining with ammonia emissions from farming, wood and coal fires, tyre burning, open rubbish dumps, and dust from construction sites and brick kilns.

Foul air has blanketed much of urban Asia for many weeks already this winter.

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