Published on 22 December 2020
Comprehensive estimates of disease burden attributable to air pollution and its economic impact in every state of India in 2019
The India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative has published a scientific paper on 22 December 2020 on the health and economic impact of air pollution in Lancet Planetary Health, which documents the trends in health loss due to air pollution and its economic impact in every state of India using the latest improved methods and data
Main Findings from the paper
- 1.7 million deaths in India were attributable to air pollution in 2019, which was 18% of the total deaths in the country.
- Household air pollution is decreasing in India resulting in 64% reduction in the death rate attributable to it from 1990 to 2019, whereas the death rate from outdoor ambient air pollution has increased during this period by 115%.
- The economic loss due to lost output from premature deaths and morbidity from air pollution was 1.4% of the GDP in India in 2019, equivalent to INR 260,000 crores (US$ 36.8 billion).
- The economic loss due to air pollution as a percentage of the state GDP was higher in the northern and central India states, with the highest in Uttar Pradesh (2.2% of GDP) and Bihar (2% of GDP).
- India would benefit from investing further in state-specific air pollution control strategies, as this will facilitate its aspiration of reaching a US$5 trillion economy by 2024.
The paper published in The Lancet Planetary Health: India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Air Pollution Collaborators. Health and economic impact of air pollution in the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet Planetary Health. 22 December 2020. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30298-9/fulltext
Spokespersons:
Prof Balram Bhargava, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi
Prof Randeep Guleria, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
Prof Kalpana Balakrishnan, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai
Prof Sagnik Dey, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi
Prof Gufran Beig, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Pune
Prof Tarun Gupta, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur
Dr Pushpam Kumar, Chief Environmental Economist, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya
Prof Lalit Dandona, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi; Public Health Foundation of India, Gurugram