Key information
Request reference number: MGLA230223-1003
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
- Can you explain why the Mayor in a press release on 5 July 2016 stated that ‘nearly 10,000 people are dying early every year due to exposure to air pollution’, when information accessed via the Freedom of Information Act states that one death was registered between 2001 and 2021 that had exposure to air pollution as a cause, however, it was unable to determine whether this involved car emissions. Please advise me on the source of the Mayor's figure of nearly 10,000 deaths every year, as this has been proved to be unimaginably exaggerated.
- I am listening to the Mayor’s questions on YouTube today. He keeps saying 4,000 Londoners are dying each year due to bad air quality. Where is he getting this figure? The request confirm the number is one in the years 2001 to 2021. He also says the air quality in London has improved. Can you confirm the figures (and years this covers)? I am interested to see if this includes the ‘Lockdown’ years of Covid.
Our response
Question 1
This was a finding from the Understanding the Health Impacts of Air Pollution in London
report, commissioned by the GLA and produced by the Environmental Research Group (then of King’s College London) in 2015. The report states the total mortality burden in 2010 from PM2.5 and NO2 can be added to give a range from 3,537 to 9,416 equivalent deaths.
The report goes into detail on how the figures were calculated.
As noted in our response below, a more recent analysis was undertaken by the Environmental Research Group in 2021, using data for 2019.
Question 2
The 4,000 premature deaths figure you cite was 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 in 2021 and produced by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London.
The full report is available on the GLA website.
The full text from the report is ‘...in 2019, in Greater London, the equivalent of between 3,600 to 4,100 deaths were estimated to be attributable to air pollution, considering that health effects exist even at very low levels. This calculation is for deaths from all causes including respiratory, lung cancer and cardiovascular deaths.’
The report goes into detail as to how the figures were calculated.
Regarding the improvements in London’s air quality, the GLA regularly reports on air quality
trends in London. This reporting uses data from the city’s air quality monitoring network to
analyse the long-term trends in pollution concentrations.
The LAEI 2019 summary note available at the link above shows the improvements in pollution levels since 2016. However, it also notes that many areas of London still exceed legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and all areas of the city exceed the 2021 World Health Organization recommended guidelines for NO2 and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting
reference MGLA230223-1003.