WHO: Air Pollution Kills 7 Million People A Year

Students wear masks as they celebrate "Khatam" in haze-hit Dumai, in Indonesia's Riau province in June 2013.

Air pollution kills about 7 million people worldwide every year, according to a fresh reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN agency said air pollution is the cause of about one in eight deaths and has now become the single biggest environmental health risk.

One of the main risks of pollution is that tiny particles can get deep into the lungs, causing irritation.
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WHO estimated that there were about 4.3 million deaths in 2012 caused by indoor air pollution, mostly people cooking inside using wood and coal stoves in Asia.

WHO said there were about 3.7 million deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2012, nearly 90 percent of them in developing countries.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters