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FOI - Air pollution deaths statistics [Feb 2023]

Key information

Request reference number: MGLA160223-0299

Date of response:

Summary of request

You request

Please provide the data that makes up the Mayor's quote that ‘4,000+ Londoners die prematurely every year from air pollution’.

I am unable to find this online and the Office of National Statistics state that sadly 1 person had air pollution on their death certificate between 2001 and 2021. 

Our response

This is a finding from the London Health Burden of Current Air Pollution and Future Health 
Benefits of Mayoral Air Quality Policies review, which was commissioned by the GLA and 
produced by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London.

The full report is available on the GLA website.

As stated in the report, in 2019, in Greater London, 61,800 to 70,200 life years lost (the 
equivalent of between 3,600 to 4,100 attributable deaths) were estimated to be attributable to anthropogenic fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), assuming health effects exist even at very low levels. 

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting 
reference MGLA160223-0299.

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