While the average life expectancy across South Asia now ranges between 70 and 72 years — with countries like Sri Lanka edging closer to the 80-year mark — Pakistan remains stubbornly trapped in the 60s, a position it has occupied since the early 1990s. This stagnation is not a statistical coincidence but a reflection of systemic failures, chief among them an unchecked environmental crisis. Air pollution, once considered an urban inconvenience, has evolved into a national health emergency with profound consequences for human longevity.
A gradual rise in particulate pollution during the first decade of this century has already shortened the average Pakistani life by an estimated 1.5 years. The outlook is even grimmer now. According to the latest Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report, pollution levels in the following decade threaten to slash life expectancy by up to four additional years nationwide. In heavily polluted regions such as Lahore, Kasur, and Sheikhupura, the loss could reach an alarming seven years. These are not abstract projections; they represent millions of lives quietly cut short by the air people breathe every day.
This looming regression is particularly troubling because Pakistan has, in many ways, made genuine strides in public health. Advances in biotechnology, expanded immunisation coverage, and relatively improved sanitation have collectively nudged life expectancy into the late 60s. Yet, the persistent blanket of smog hovering over urban centres now threatens to erase decades of incremental progress. What medicine has helped extend, pollution is steadily clawing back.
It is also critical to understand that life expectancy is not merely a count of years lived but a measure of the quality of those years. Longer life should mean healthier life. According to estimates by the International Longevity Centre UK, the loss of a single year in life expectancy corresponds to an average loss of 2.5 healthy years. By that measure, a four-year reduction translates into a staggering decade lost to illness, disability, and diminished well-being. This burden weighs heaviest on the poor, the elderly, and children — those least equipped to shield themselves from environmental harm.
Health is often framed as a matter of personal responsibility: daily walks, clean diets, and disciplined routines. But such narratives overlook the deeper socioeconomic realities that shape individual choices. Access to quality healthcare, safe living conditions, and unpolluted environments determines whether healthy habits can even take root. There is only so much an individual can do when the air itself is toxic and basic necessities are compromised.
Ultimately, this is not just an environmental issue; it is a governance issue. Clean air is not a luxury but a fundamental human right, inseparable from the right to health. Without decisive government intervention — through stricter emissions regulations, sustainable urban planning, and investment in clean energy — Pakistan risks condemning future generations to shorter, sicker lives. The cost of inaction is already being measured not just in economic losses, but in years — and lives — quietly slipping away.
Shafaqna Pakistan
pakistan.shafaqna.com
Note: Shafaqna do not endorse the views expressed in the article
