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Global Pollution Kills 9 Million People a Year, Study Finds Pollution of all types kills about 9 million people a year, accounting for one in six deaths worldwide, according to a new report published in The Lancet Planetary Health. The report said that the number of pollution deaths resulting from extreme poverty, such as dirty water or household air pollution from burning fuels, has fallen. However, deaths from modern pollution such as industrial chemicals and air pollution from vehicles have risen by over 66% since 2000. India and China lead the world in pollution deaths with nearly 2.4 million and almost 2.2 million deaths a year, but these two nations also have the world's largest populations. When deaths were analyzed per 100,000 people, Chad and the Central African Republic ranked highest with about 300 pollution deaths per 100,000 — more than half of them due to dirty water. Brunei, Qatar and Iceland had the lowest pollution death rates, ranging from 15 to 23 deaths per 100,000 people. The global average is 117 pollution deaths per 100,000 people. Three-quarters of overall pollution deaths came from air pollution. Lead pollution was responsible for 900,000 deaths, and occupational health pollution adds another 870,000, the study said. Pollution kills about the same number of people a year around the world as cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke combined, the report said. But it doesn't have to be this way, researchers said. "They are preventable deaths. Each and every one of them is a death that is unnecessary," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health, who wasn't part of the study. The authors gave eight recommendations to reduce pollution deaths, highlighting the need for better monitoring and reporting and stronger government systems regulating industries and vehicles. "We absolutely know how to solve each one of those problems," said study co-author Richard Fuller, founder of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution. "What's missing is political will," he added.