The mortality and economic benefits of achieving air pollution standards in India

Abstract

The presence of high levels of PM2.5 pollution is a major health threat in India. We evaluate the benefits of reducing ambient PM2.5 and household air pollution from a 2019 baseline, when over 70% of the population of India was exposed to annual average PM2.5 of more than 40 μg/m3 and 56% of households burned solid fuels for cooking. We estimate the mortality benefits of reducing ambient PM2.5 to the India standard (40 μg/m3) and to two World Health Organization (WHO) interim standards (25 μg/m3 and 15 μg/m3). The benefits of the standards are affected by the concavity of concentration-response functions and the high levels of household air pollution to which people are exposed. We therefore examine the benefits of achieving each standard paired with a 50% reduction in the percentage of households burning solid fuels. Annual mortality reductions from the combined policies exceed 300,000 lives saved for the India standard, 500,000 lives saved for the WHO 25 μg/m3 standard, and 675,000 lives saved for the WHO 15 μg/m3 standard. The economic benefits of each of these joint policies equal 2.2%, 3.6% and 4.9% of Indian gross domestic product (GDP), using a Value per Statistical Life (VSL) of 100 times per capita GDP.