Air pollution linked to 30,000 UK deaths in 2025 and costs the economy and NHS billions
Royal College of Physicians | June 19, 2025
A new report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has highlighted the growing evidence about the increased range of health impacts linked to toxic air even at low concentrations, urging government to act on air pollution as a serious and preventable public health threat.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has warned that air pollution affects almost every organ in the human body, estimated to contribute to the equivalent of 30,000 deaths in the UK in 2025 and cost more than £27 billion annually.
The new report from the RCP highlights studies in the last decade providing new knowledge about the significant health impacts of toxic air even at low concentrations, including on foetal development, cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental health conditions and dementia. As we spend more time in buildings, indoor air pollution also poses a growing concern. The report emphasises that poor ventilation, damp and mould, and emissions from domestic heating, gas cooking and household products all contribute significantly to poor health.
In A breath of fresh air: responding to the health challenges of modern air pollution, the RCP urges the UK government to recognise air pollution as a public health issue – rather than a solely environmental one – and take urgent and ambitious action to reduce preventable deaths and improve population health.
With impacts on both mortality and healthy life expectancy, the effects of toxic air on individuals, society, the economy and the NHS are huge. The RCP report estimates that:
- In 2019 alone, costs for healthcare, productivity losses and reduced quality of life due to air pollution cost the UK upwards of £27 billion – and may be as much as £50 billion when wider impacts, such as dementia, are accounted for.
- Annual costs could still be up to £30 billion per year in 2040, despite pollutant exposures being projected to fall in coming years under current government policies, including Net Zero policies.
- Air pollution could still be linked to around 30,000 deaths in 2025, compared to government estimates of the equivalent of between 29,000 and 43,000 deaths in the UK in 2019.
There is no safe level of air pollution. Despite some progress in recent years, findings about the wide range of health impacts suggest the threat to public health remains significant and greater than previously understood.
A toxic burden on the most vulnerable people
Air pollution is harmful to everyone, but the most deprived communities – who typically contribute least to emissions – disproportionately experience its effects and suffer the worst health outcomes.