Wildfire Smoke Linked to 3,560 Deaths in Indonesia During September, Study Finds

• Approximately 57.8 million people across Indonesia were exposed to unhealthy or hazardous air quality in September.
• The September death toll represented a twofold increase over the August 2026 estimate as air quality deteriorated.

Air pollution from months of wildfire smoke across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in September alone, according to a scientific study by the Helsinki-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

During the same period, about 57.8 million people throughout the Southeast Asian archipelago inhaled air ranging from unhealthy to hazardous, the report found.

“Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate,” CREA said in a statement.

The study estimated deaths linked to short-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, defined as fatalities occurring within days of exposure. Most deaths occurred in Indonesia’s portion of Borneo, as well as on Java and Sumatra islands and in the country’s eastern regions.

Researchers also examined non-fire pollution from urban and industrial emissions, which contributed an additional 1,750 deaths in September. That brought the total air-pollution death toll to 5,310 in Indonesia, a country of roughly 278 million people.

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