Air pollution gobbled up 4.4% of Bangladesh GDP in 2019: WB

Bangladesh incurred economic losses worth around 4.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 due to air pollution, according to a World Bank (WB) estimate.

“The annual cost of the health effects caused by air pollution was between $11.5 billion and $13 billion in 2019, equivalent to 3.9 per cent to 4.4 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP that year. A third of the estimated deaths caused by exposure to ambient PM2.5 were in the Dhaka division, the most polluted part of the country,” said a WB report.

Dhaka is the most polluted city in the world at present while from 2018 to 2021, it was the second most polluted city, it added.

The WB launched the report, “Breathing Heavy: New Evidence on Air Pollution and Health in Bangladesh”, at a program organised at a city hotel on Sunday morning. The report assessed the impacts of outdoor air pollution on physical and mental health in Dhaka and Sylhet.

To reduce air pollution impacts on health, the report recommended immediate actions, including improving public health services and response mechanisms, improving air pollution data monitoring systems, investing in early warning systems, and engaging in further research.

The report finds that the sites with major construction and persistent traffic in the Dhaka City have the highest level of air pollution. At these sites, the fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which is considered most hazardous to health, is on average 150 percent above the WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQG), which is equivalent to smoking about 1.7 cigarettes per day. The second highest concentration of PM2.5 levels is found near brick kilns in Greater Dhaka, which is 136 percent above the WHO AQG – equivalent to smoking 1.6 cigarettes per day.

Incidence of lower respiratory tract infections was significantly higher among children living near major construction and traffic sites than elsewhere in the country, including near brick kilns. Sylhet Division, which has the cleanest air in the country, still experiences average PM2.5 concentration levels 80 percent above WHO AQG. This is equivalent to smoking 1.2 cigarettes per day.

“Ambient air pollution puts everyone at risk, from a child to an elderly. In 2019, air pollution was the second largest cause of deaths and disability in Bangladesh and costed about 3.9 to 4.4 percent of the country’s GDP,” said Dandan Chen, Acting World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.