Red alert for Albania: On map of sites that import death from pollution

Rich countries export air pollution, which is linked to mortality while importing goods, writes the Economist...

The East European region, including Albania, has the highest rate of imported deaths. The region has a record 241 deaths imported for one million people.

What are imported deaths? A third of the deaths caused by pollution occur because of the transportation of particles from land to country by wind. The latest study finds that twice as many are caused by goods and services produced in a poor region and exported for consumption to a often richer and higher-standard country.

In fact, wealthy countries are exporting air pollution and related deaths, importing goods.

Like Eastern Europe, the region that causes more deaths through pollution followed by other regions, Western Europe has the highest death toll caused by pollution in other countries, numbering 319 deaths per million (see map).

The second region, which exports more pollution - related deaths, is Australia with 311 deaths of 1 million.

Governments complain about traffic and other local concerns that pollute air. But newly published research by Zhang Qiang from Tsinghua University in Beijing and an international team, including environmental economists, physicists and disease experts, show the problem also has a global dimension. Dr. Zhang estimates that in 2007 the first year for which total industrial, epidemiological, and trade data were available when the team began work ʹ more than 3 million premature deaths worldwide were caused by particles emissions (known as PM2.5 , because particles in question are less than 2.5 microns). /Monitor