Air pollution could cause 9 million deaths in 2060
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
An OECD report points the finger at pollution: deaths could triple in the coming decades. And the economic costs will explode.
Air pollution could cause 9 million deaths in 2060
An OECD report points the finger at pollution: deaths could triple in the coming decades. And the economic costs will explode.
If the world does not act effectively to tackle the problem, air pollution could cause between six and nine million premature deaths per year by 2060. And – in terms of medical care, declining agricultural yields and workers' sick days – it could cost around 1 per cent of global gross domestic product. That is approximately 2.6 trillion dollars a year.
Air pollution will cost 2,600 dollars per person
A new OECD report, titled The Economic Consequences of Air Pollution, paints a picture of the dramatic consequences of air pollution. According to the report, taking demographic estimates into account, the loss in per capita GDP will amount to 330 dollars in 2060. To this must be added the approximately 2,600 dollars that each inhabitant of the Earth will, on average, have to spend every year to protect themselves in various ways from the consequences of pollution. A figure that currently does not exceed five hundred dollars.
In particular, the annual costs borne by states for the treatment of conditions linked to toxic agents inhaled across the world could reach 176 billion dollars (compared to twenty-one billion in 2015). Meanwhile, the number of working days lost due to illness could rise from 1.2 to 3.7 billion globally.
Deaths could triple compared to today
But the most alarming figure is undoubtedly the one relating to deaths: "The number of human lives lost due to pollution is already enormous today. The potential increase in the decades ahead will be terrifying. And if this were not already more than sufficient reason to act, the report we have produced also shows that all of this would entail a considerable economic cost," explained Simon Upton, an OECD official, at the eighth "An Environment for Europe" Conference, held in Batumi, Georgia. "Our duty," he added, "is to prevent this projection from becoming reality."
Air pollution is already responsible today for more than three million premature deaths per year, particularly among elderly people and children. The sharpest increases in death rates are expected in the coming decades in India, China, South Korea and other Asian nations such as Uzbekistan. It is in these countries, in fact, that demographic growth and marked urbanisation will produce the worst consequences.