Claim: Indoor and outdoor air pollution claim at least 40,000 UK lives a year.
Fact-check: How to interpret today's reports about air pollution - Full Fact
Verdict: estimates suggest that every year, the equivalent of 40,000 deaths in the uk are attributable to exposure to outdoor air pollution. adding deaths attributable to indoor air pollution is thought to increase this figure, but it's not known exactly by how much. this doesn't mean that this number of people die prematurely every year because of air pollution, as it's not the sole cause of deaths.
Organisation: Full Fact
Author: Amy Sippitt
Date published: 2016-02-23T00:00:00