The cost of deadly air pollution in India — Rs 3.39 lakh per second

India spends around 1.28 per cent of the GDP on health while air pollution from burning fossil fuels costs an estimated 5.4 per cent of India's GDP.

The central government allocated only Rs 69,000 crore for the health sector in the Union Budget.

Exposure to pollution from fossil fuels also leads to around 49 crore days of work absence due to illness, the report said.

Another source of economic costs is that approximately 350,000 new cases of child asthma each year are linked to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a by-product of fossil fuel combustion.

Around 12.85 lakh more children in India live with Asthma linked to fossil fuel pollution.

The analysis also suggests that an estimated one million deaths each year and approximately 980,000 estimated pre-term births, equating to an annual economic loss of Rs 10.7 lakh crore is attributed to air pollution from fossil fuel in India.

Globally, the economic costs of air pollution from fossil fuels are estimated at US$2.9 trillion in 2018, or 3.3% of world GDP, far exceeding the likely costs of rapid reductions in fossil fuel use.

An estimated 4.5 million people died in 2018 due to exposure to air pollution from fossil fuels. On average, each death was associated with a loss of 19 years of life.