NEW DELHI: Toxic air killed at least 1.67 million people in India in 2019, accounting for 18% of all fatalities. The toll has seen a spike from the numbers in 2017 when 1.24 million people lost their lived due to pollution in India.
New Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital, recorded the highest per-capita economic hit, the journal said.
The fatalities in 2019 led to a total loss of $36.8 billion, or 1.36% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), with the poor and populous states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar experiencing the highest economic loss as a percentage of their GDP.
The economic loss due to lost output from premature deaths and illness attributable to air pollution (outdoor and household) as a percentage of state GDP was 1.08% in Delhi. The highest loss to GDP was recorded by Uttar Pradesh at 2.15% followed by Bihar at 1.95% and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan lost 1.70% each. When it comes to impact of outdoor air pollution alone on state GDP, Delhi recorded a loss of 1.06% to its GDP. The highest loss to GDP was recorded by Uttar Pradesh at 1.34% followed by Punjab at 1.22%.
The journal has highlighted that India is bearing massive losses to its GDP and productivity due to health impacts of air pollution. Overall deaths and disease due to air pollution is linked to loss of 1.36% of India’s GDP according to the paper.
Of the total economic loss of $36·8 billion, 36·6% was from lung diseases, which included chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (21·1%), lower respiratory infections (14·2%), and lung cancer (1·2%). The rest was from ischaemic heart disease (24·9%), stroke (14·1%), diabetes (8·4%), neonatal disorders (13·3%), and cataract (2·7%).
“Air pollution has the potential to impede accumulation of future human capital by reducing children’s survival, undermining their health, and reducing their ability to benefit from education. The cost savings resulting from the prevention of productivity losses attributable to air pollution would contribute to the formation of new human capital,” the study said. It cited the example of the US, where every dollar invested in the control of air pollution since 1970 is estimated to have yielded an economic benefit of $30. There has been a substantial reduction in air pollution in the US over the past few decades along with significant economic growth, the study said.
The government said in a statement that India would need to invest more in state-specific pollution control programmes if it were to meet its goal of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024, from around $2.9 trillion now.
India’s three main cities, New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, were on the list of the world’s 20 worst polluted cities, Swiss air quality technology company IQAir reported on Tuesday.