10 air pollution facts that should terrify you

Nobody is safe from air pollution, the United Nations warned on World Environment Day this year, with nine out of 10 people on the planet now breathing polluted air.

This has led to a growing, global health crisis, which already causes about 7 million deaths per year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Burning fossil fuels for power, transport and industry is a major contributor to air pollution as well as the main source of planet-warming carbon emissions - and tackling both problems together could bring substantial benefits for public health.

Here are 10 terrifying facts about the human impacts of air pollution and its links with climate change:

1. Air pollution kills 800 people every hour, or 13 every minute, accounting for more than three times the amount of people who die from malaria, tuberculosis and Aids combined each year.

2. Some of the same pollutants contribute to both climate change and local air pollution, including black carbon or soot - produced by inefficient combustion in sources like cookstoves and diesel engines - and methane.

3. The five main sources of air pollution are indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass to cook, heat and light homes; industry, including power generation such as coal-fired plants and diesel generators; transport, especially vehicles with diesel engines; agriculture, including livestock, which produces methane and ammonia, rice paddies, which produce methane, and the burning of agricultural waste; and open waste burning and organic waste in landfills.