Abstract:
It is the last year for China to implement the
Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in 2017. Through the implementation of a series policy measures, including Industrial Structure Adjustment, Clean Energy Utilization, Industrial Pollution Control, Boiler Retrofit and Treatment, Non-point Source Pollution Control, Motor Vehicle Pollution Control and Supervision Capacity Building, the
Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution has achieved its goals of environmental quality improvements as well as gaining human health benefits from 2013 to 2017. Based on the atmospheric environmental monitoring data of PM
10 and PM
2.5 from 2013 to 2017 provided by China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, adopting the Disease Burden Method, the impact of the
Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution on of life expectancy in China was quantitatively analyzed to provide scientific basis for the formulation of environmental policy in China. The major findings are:(1) Based on the analysis of environmental monitoring data, the air quality has improved significantly, and the concentration of PM
10 in 338 prefecture-level cities has dropped by 22.7%, and the concentration of PM
2.5 in 74 cities deceased from 72.2 μg/m
3 in 2013 to 47.4 μg/m
3 in 2017. (2) The results of Disease Burden analysis showed that the loss of human health caused by air pollution has declined significantly, the number of premature deaths in urban areas has dropped from 521, 000 to 439, 000 during 2013-2017. (3) Based on the analysis results of premature deaths caused by air pollution from 2013 to 2017, and using 'the Abridged life table of urban citizens', the life expectancy of city in 2017 has increased 0.16 years compared with 2013 level. (4) The article also finds that the University of Chicago's report on the increased life expectancy of 2.4 years in 2017 compared with 2013 level has overestimated the contribution of the
Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution on human health. Our analysis shows that the
Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution has significant environmental benefits and positive effects on life expectancy.