Air pollution caused about 58,975 deaths in Iran in the Iranian calendar year starting in March 2024, equivalent to 161 deaths per day and around seven every hour, the country’s deputy health minister said on Sunday.
Alireza Raisi said the deaths were linked to exposure to fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns, known as PM2.5 — tiny airborne particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.
“Twenty-three percent were due to ischemic heart disease, 21 percent to lung cancer, 17 percent to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 15 percent to stroke, and 13 percent to lower respiratory infections,” he said.
Raisi said the economic damage caused by deaths attributed to air pollution was estimated at about $17.2 billion in 2024.
“These damages are equivalent to $47 million per day," he said.
Raisi said the average daily concentrations of fine particles in the country’s major cities are far higher than the World Health Organization’s permissible limits.
A day earlier, Iran's vice-president for science, technology, and knowledge-based economy Hossein Afshin warned about the consequences of air pollution especially in industrial regions.
Afshin said the central province of Isfahan has the highest number of cancer and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in the country, adding that the operation of old power plants in the region increases particulate matter and worsens pollution.
“When power plants of this age operate in Isfahan province, the amount of particulate matter in the air also increases,” he said.
Khuzestan province worst hit
Raisi said Ahvaz, a city in southwest Iran, recorded the highest annual average concentration of PM2.5 at 42 micrograms per cubic meter — about eight times the WHO guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meter — followed by Isfahan, Tehran, and Arak.
In Khuzestan province, air pollution killed 1,624 people over the past year and caused $427 million in health-sector losses, according to Mehrdad Sharifi, deputy for health at Ahvaz Jundishapur University.
He said the air in the cities of Ahvaz, Dasht-e Azadegan, and Hoveyzeh had been healthy for only two days in recent months, adding that 22,000 patients sought hospital treatment in October due to pollution-related illnesses.
Khuzestan’s deputy governor said on Sunday that schools in most cities of the province will remain online until around mid-November, while high schools will continue in person.
Calls to ban old vehicles, invest in cleaner energy, and empower a central environmental authority have so far gone unanswered. Critics warn that without systemic change, major cities including Tehran will continue to suffer both in air quality and human lives.
