India, China suffer heavily due to air pollution: study

Kochi: India and China suffer over US $1.89 trillion annually in terms of the value of lives lost and ill health caused from air pollution, according to a report.

Quoting OECD estimates, a new study published in The Lancet says, "The cost of ambient air pollution in terms of the value of lives lost and ill health in OECD countries, plus India and China, to be more than US $3·5 trillion annually (about 5% gross world product [GWP]), with India and China combined accounting for 54% of this total." US $1.89 trillion is 54% of US $3·5 trillion.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international economic organisation of 34 nations.

In its report released last week, the 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change says the implications of climate change for a global population of nine billion people threatens to undermine the last half century of gains in development and global health.

Describing the Lancet study as "a very important document that summarises the impact of climate change on our health and wellbeing", renowned climate expert Chandra Bhushan said, "It is quite clear from the report that India is and will be one of the worst affected regions of the world due to climate change."

"Climate change will wipe out all the gains the country has made in the last 3-4 decades in poverty alleviation and the heath sector," warns Bhushan, who is also Deputy Director General of Delhi-based advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).