International.
Six to nine million premature deaths a year by 2060 will cause air pollution.
It will also cost 1% of the global Gross Domestic Product (around US$2.6 trillion a year) due to sick leave, medical expenses and reduced agricultural production, according to data from the report on 'The Economic Consequences of Air Pollution' prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
According to the report, with air pollution, by 2060 economic resources would be reduced by around US$330 per person and the increase in health costs related to diseases caused by pollution from the US$21 billion quantified in 2015, to the 176 billion that will be in 2060. In addition, the number of working days lost to pollution-related illnesses will rise to 3.7 billion.
The premature deaths that air pollution caused already in 2010 are estimated at more than three million, with the elderly and children being the most vulnerable. OECD forecasts even triple this figure in 44 years, with an average of one premature death every four to five seconds, according to the report.
The largest increase in the death rate from air pollution is in China, Korea, India and Central Asia, in countries such as Uzbekistan, where the increase in population and its concentration in cities implies a greater number of people exposed to emissions produced by traffic and power plants.
According to this report, death rates from this cause tend to remain stable in the United States and are falling sharply in Europe, in part thanks to efforts to move towards clean energy and transport.
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