The deputy head of the Air Quality and Climate Change Research Center at Beheshti University of Medical Sciences announced that more than 35,000 deaths attributed to air pollution were recorded in the country during 2024.
The state-run ISNA news agency wrote on Wednesday, August 13, quoting Abbas Shahsavani, that statistics show the average number of deaths attributed to air pollution in 2024 was 35,540 people. In 2023, 30,690 deaths from air pollution were reported in Iran.
This figure was more than 26,000 people in 2022.
Referring to the results of the most recent study conducted in Iran in 2024 on the health impacts and economic damages caused by air pollution, Shahsavani said: “A study on the health and economic effects of air pollution was conducted last year, in which 83 cities in the country with a population of more than 57 million people were examined.”
According to the results of this study, the lowest number of deaths attributed to air pollution in these 83 cities was estimated at 23,766, and the highest at 46,000.
Shahsavani said: “Sanandaj is also among the cleanest cities in the country, and in other words, it can be said that the cities of Shahroud and Sanandaj had the lowest concentration of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in 2024.”
The cities of Zabol, Iranshahr, and Rigan had the highest concentration of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns last year and were respectively the most polluted cities in the country in 2024.
Shahsavani had previously reported the deaths of more than 7,000 people in Tehran last year due to air pollution.
On August 6, he told the state-run ILNA news agency that in 2023, Tehran had recorded 7,342 deaths attributed to “long-term exposure to particulate matter.”
This statistic, based on a study at the Air Quality and Climate Change Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University, shows that the air pollution-related mortality rate has increased by about 1% compared to 2023.
Several media outlets in Iran reported different figures on August 1, stating that last year “6,000” Tehran residents lost their lives due to air pollution.
Burning of heavy fuel oil (mazut) in power plants, low-quality gasoline, and worn-out vehicles are identified as the main sources of air pollutants in Tehran and across Iran.
