According to Science magazine, exposure to air pollution affects “death rates, hospitalizations and medical visits, complications of asthma and bronchitis, days of work lost, restricted-activity days, and a variety of measures of lung damage.” A World Health Organization study of France, Switzerland and Austria found that their health costs due to traffic pollution amounted to approximately 1.7 percent of GDP, dramatically more than the cost of treating injuries from traffic accidents.
Source: CNN.com “Traffic pollution ‘kills thousands every year’ “ September 1, 2000
In Canada, the province of Ontario estimates that air pollution costs its 12 million residents at least $1 billion annually in hospital admissions, emergency room visits and worker absenteeism.
Source: Ontario Medical Association, “The Illness Costs of Air Pollution Ontario” June 2000
And the World Bank reports that in China – home to some of the most polluted air in the world – the deaths and illnesses of urban residents due to air pollution cost an estimated 5 percent of GDP.