Thoughts on How Air Quality Affects Premature Death

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is a cause of premature death. It is clear a priori that a cleaner environment, in particular atmospheric air, will be a more favourable environment for life. However, to what extent can we objectively link them? Can a definitive link be established between air pollution and "premature" death? To do this, we need to look at how premature death is defined, track changes in air quality and life expectancy over the most extended possible period for which we have reliable data. On this basis, we must try to formulate certain conclusions. It may turn out that the cleaner the environment, the longer we live. And the longer we live, the higher the age at which we consider death to be premature. But as this age increases, we can expect the number of "premature" deaths to increase as well. In the end, we may find that with a cleaner environment, or cleaner air, the rate of premature death increases!