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Deaths from fossil-fuel air pollution, world

Deaths each year worldwide from breathing outdoor fine particles (PM2.5) from burning coal, oil and gas, 2007–2022: a harm of the burning itself, not of the warming. Calculated by adding the Lancet Countdown's deaths from coal and from liquids and gas over all seven emitting sectors (indicator 3.2.1), modelled with IIASA's GAINS model.

Latest value

2,522,076deaths

World, 2022. Version 2025 report.

Deaths from fossil-fuel air pollution, world (deaths)

48 values from 2007 to 2022. Lines: Coal, liquids and gas, Coal, Liquids and Gas.
Show as a table
Deaths from fossil-fuel air pollution, world, every value
PeriodFuelValue (deaths)Status
2007Coal, liquids and gas2,719,159final
2008Coal, liquids and gas2,734,344final
2009Coal, liquids and gas2,675,160final
2010Coal, liquids and gas2,677,081final
2011Coal, liquids and gas2,722,715final
2012Coal, liquids and gas2,748,962final
2013Coal, liquids and gas2,729,740final
2014Coal, liquids and gas2,699,674final
2015Coal, liquids and gas2,636,856final
2016Coal, liquids and gas2,622,991final
2017Coal, liquids and gas2,636,830final
2018Coal, liquids and gas2,598,072final
2019Coal, liquids and gas2,527,979final
2020Coal, liquids and gas2,343,269final
2021Coal, liquids and gas2,480,763final
2022Coal, liquids and gas2,522,076final
2007Coal1,390,225final
2008Coal1,395,309final
2009Coal1,343,536final
2010Coal1,314,293final
2011Coal1,333,823final
2012Coal1,323,743final
2013Coal1,285,390final
2014Coal1,245,983final
2015Coal1,188,003final
2016Coal1,147,855final
2017Coal1,142,753final
2018Coal1,092,195final
2019Coal1,043,850final
2020Coal963,377final
2021Coal994,705final
2022Coal995,210final
2007Liquids and Gas1,328,934final
2008Liquids and Gas1,339,035final
2009Liquids and Gas1,331,624final
2010Liquids and Gas1,362,788final
2011Liquids and Gas1,388,892final
2012Liquids and Gas1,425,219final
2013Liquids and Gas1,444,350final
2014Liquids and Gas1,453,691final
2015Liquids and Gas1,448,853final
2016Liquids and Gas1,475,136final
2017Liquids and Gas1,494,077final
2018Liquids and Gas1,505,877final
2019Liquids and Gas1,484,129final
2020Liquids and Gas1,379,892final
2021Liquids and Gas1,486,058final
2022Liquids and Gas1,526,866final
Calculated by Environment Dashboard from Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change 2025 report data: indicator 1.1.1 by A. J. Pershing and J. Giguere (attributable heatwave days) and by F. Tartarini and O. Jay (vulnerable populations); indicator 1.1.3 by C. Freyberg, B. Lemke and M. Otto; indicator 1.1.5 by J. Ballester, X. Basagaña and J. Ruiz-Cabrejos; indicator 1.2.1 by R. Hänninen, M. Sofiev and R. Kouznetsov; indicator 1.2.2 by M. Romanello and M. Walawender; indicator 1.2.3 by K. Minor and N. Obradovich; indicator 3.2.1 by G. Kiesewetter and S. Zhang. Romanello et al., The Lancet, 2025, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01919-1. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Changes: deaths from coal and from liquids and gas added over the seven emitting sectors, and the two fuels added together. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Where it comes from

Producer
Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change (led by University College London) · Lancet Countdown 2025: heat, wildfire smoke, drought, extreme rain and deaths from air pollution
Version
2025 report
File
https://lancetcountdown.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Indicator-3.2.1_Data-Download_2025-Lancet-Countdown-Report-1.xlsx
Fetched
2026-10-12 (automatically), 223,758 bytes
Fingerprint
sha256 bde1cab1171764da6c8e631ae45e93a9b4f0460d68c6ad704eaca0dd1aa5cf7fETag "36a0e-6425ae4c51e77" · Last-Modified Thu, 30 Oct 2025 07:06:52 GMT
Copies
Archived copy (Wayback Machine) Our copy of the exact file
Cite the producer
Romanello M, Walawender M, Hsu S-C, et al. The 2025 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change. Lancet 2025; published online Oct 29. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01919-1.

What was done to it

  1. Read the sheet 'Global' of the indicator 3.2.1 (mortality from ambient air pollution by sector and fuel) workbook of the Lancet Countdown 2025 report, 2007–2022: for each year and each of the seven emitting sectors (power plants, industry, transport, households, waste, agriculture, other), the deaths attributable to PM2.5 from coal, liquids and gas, biomass and other sources, in deaths as the guidance sheet states.

    Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/impacts/lancet_countdown.py · code sha256 fecaf0b937e79c60… · inputs bde1cab11717…

  2. Added the coal deaths of the seven sectors, and separately their liquids-and-gas deaths, for each year (whole deaths, exact), and added the two for deaths from fossil fuels, as the report's key finding does. Biomass and other sources are left out.

    Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/impacts/lancet_countdown.py · code sha256 fecaf0b937e79c60… · inputs bde1cab11717…

What it covers

Geography
World
Basis
Modelled premature deaths: emissions by sector and fuel in IIASA's GAINS model, atmospheric chemistry and dispersion at about 7–10 km (meteorology fixed at 2015), population from UN World Population Prospects 2017 and exposure–response functions from a meta-analysis of cohort studies. 'Other' is other human-caused sources, as the producer puts it. Energy use comes from IEA World Energy Balances 2024 as a model input; no IEA values are published. The producer notes the model and the shape of the exposure–response relationship are uncertain, and that the grid may miss strong local pollution.
Unit
deaths (deaths)