An Assessment of PM2.5-Related Health Risks and Associated Economic Losses in Chinese Cities

Abstract

It is important to carry out research on health risks and associated economic losses caused by air pollution using a large sample city in order to control air pollution and improve public health literacy. Using environmental health risk and environmental value assessment methods, the health risks of PM2.5 pollution in 2015, as well as the corresponding economic losses, were estimated in this study using the environmental monitoring data of 62 key cities as samples. The results show that significant impacts due to PM2.5 pollution occurred in 2015, including about 125.1[95% confidence interval (CI):33.29-205.90] thousand premature deaths and 10.10 (95% CI:4.70-15.02) million cases of illness, hospital admissions, and outpatients, which accounted for 3.53% (95% CI:1.64%-5.26%) of the total urban population. The total economic loss associated with the health risks was approximately 570.6 (95% CI:193.08-874.21) billion yuan, which accounts for 1.53% (95% CI:0.52%-2.35%) of the total GDP in 2015. The per capita loss was 1970 (95% CI:667-3018) yuan for these cities. Among the four major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and Northeast China, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has the highest health risks, associated economic losses, the proportion of associated economic losses to GDP, and associated economic loss per capita because of its high concentration of PM2.5 and dense population than other three urban agglomerations. Among the three economic areas of Eastern, Central, and Western China, the health risks and associated economic losses were highest in the former. However, economic loss per capita did not differ greatly in the three economic areas. The difference in economic losses was very small between South and North China. However, the proportion of economic loss to GDP and per capita loss were much higher in the North than in the South. As to specific cities, the problems of health risks and economic losses were outstanding in Baoding, Zhengzhou, Jinan, and Beijing, which have higher PM2.5 concentrations.