India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Madagascar and Kenya are among the countries which accounted for 92 per cent of all pollution-related deaths.
The report highlights the prominence of these types of deaths in low and middle income countries.
Leading researchers and practitioners in fields of pollution management, environmental health and sustainable development compiled the global report, which was released on Friday.
The Commission on Pollution and Health is an initiative of The Lancet, the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP), and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
University of Queensland researcher Professor Peter Sly was one of the commissioners of the report and he said the nine million deaths represented 16 per cent of all people who died worldwide in 2015.
"If you look at this from a public health policy perspective, that’s more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and more than 15 times more than all wars and other forms of violence,” Prof Sly said.
In the center of Ranipet, hundreds of tons of chromium sulfates are strewn about an abandoned facility. Source: Photo: Larry C. Price
"Children are at high risk and even low dose exposure in utero and early infancy can result in disease, disability and death in childhood and across the lifespan.
"The key messages are that pollution has a major impact on health, particularly in low and middle income countries, and it actually costs more to do nothing than to implement proven solutions."
The study found air pollution was the biggest contributor and was linked to 6.5 million deaths in 2015.
Water pollution also posed a large risk. The study showed it resulted in 1.8 million deaths and workplace-related pollution was linked to 0.8 million deaths.
The commission has found reducing pollution can lead to growing economies and can save lives.
Its aim is to reduce air, soil and water pollution by communicating the health and economic costs of pollution globally by informing policy makers.
The effects of pollution costs more than $5.8 trillion each year, which is equivalent to 6.2 per cent of global economic output.
Air pollution in Bangladesh Source: Photo: Larry C. Price
It also suggests pollution can be reduced by providing actionable solutions to and softening the myth of pollution's inevitability.
"Many of the pollution control strategies have proven cost-effective in high and middle income countries, and are ready to be exported and adapted by cities and countries at every level of income," Prof Sly said.
"The report urges countries to include pollution planning into their planning processes and asks for support from development assistance agencies to design and implement programs that reduce pollution and save lives."
Prof Sly said pollution was not a recognised health issue in Australia, but research suggested it was.
"There are peer-reviewed studies which show that exposure to pollutants causes higher levels of respiratory illnesses and impacts foetal growth," he said.
"While we are not Beijing or Delhi, we can still measure and demonstrate health impacts of pollution on the Australian population, and water contamination from firefighting foam is just one recent example.”
