Pollution costs India nearly as much as govt health expenditure: Study

Air pollution kills more men than women, while it's the other way round for water pollution

Traditional pollution costs India losses equivalent to around 1 per cent of its gross domestic product, according to a study released on Tuesday. This is nearly equal to what the government spends on public healthcare.

The figures are calculated as the output lost when a person dies prematurely because of health complications arising out of pollution. The total figure has fallen from around 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2000 to around 1 per cent of GDP in 2019, according to the study entitled ‘Pollution and health: a progress update (The Lancet Planetary Health).’

State and central governments spent between 1.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent of GDP on public health in the past decade, shows data from the not-for-profit group PRS Legislative Research. This had increased to 1.8 per cent of GDP in 2020-21 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Traditional pollution includes deaths from household air pollution from solid fuels and unsafe water, sanitation, and hand washing (see chart 1). The losses would be higher if one also considers deaths due to polluting industries, according to the report.

“Economic losses due to modern forms of pollution have increased as a proportion of GDP between 2000 and 2019….and are now conservatively estimated to amount to approximately 1∙0% of GDP in each of these countries. The full economic losses, if the full health impacts of pollution were to be counted and the effects of pollution on informal sectors and environmental damage were to be fully detailed, are likely to be greater,” it said.

The study noted that losses due to modern forms of pollution fallen in the European Union and the United States of America. This partly reflects their outsourcing of polluting industries to other countries, according to the report.

The report noted India’s efforts to reduce household pollution.

“India has made efforts against household air pollution, most notably through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana  programme, but in 2019 still had the world’s largest estimated number of air pollution­related deaths,” it said.

Air pollution also accounted for the most pollution deaths globally (see chart 2). It killed around 6.7 million people in 2019. This is higher than the total recorded deaths for Covid-19 since the pandemic began. The United Nation’s health agency, the World Health Organisation, pegs total recorded deaths at 6.3 million.

Water pollution accounted for fewer deaths but still clocked over a million in 2019. More men than women are likely to die of air pollution, while the situation is reversed in the case of water pollution.

“Men are more likely to die from exposure to ambient air pollution, lead pollution, and occupational pollutants than women. Women and children are more likely to die from exposure to water pollution than men,” it said.

“The impact of pollution on health remains much greater than that of war, terrorism, malaria, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis, drugs, and alcohol, and the number of deaths caused by pollution are on par with those caused by smoking,” it added.

The study noted that only a small number of international agencies are promoting the health and pollution agenda, and receive meagre support.