Global Disparities in PM2.5 Exposure Caused by Consumption of Goods and Services

Millions of people globally die each year from exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Much of the emissions that lead to this exposure are caused by activities in service of economic demand for goods and services. Owing to economic globalization, to disparities in industrial and environmental regulation, as well as to atmospheric transport, economic activity is more polluting in some areas than in others. To explore these disparities, we combine economic, geophysical, and epidemiological modeling approaches to quantify the difference between the pollution that people cause by consuming goods and services, and the health impacts resulting from the pollution to which they are exposed. First, we use a multi-regional input-output model of international trade to couple economic transactions among 56 economic sectors in 43 countries to a global pollution emissions inventory. We then use the Intervention Model for Air Pollution (InMAP) to estimate global PM2.5 concentrations resulting from the emissions. Finally, we use the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) to estimate excess PM2.5 mortality rates. We find that economic consumption in China, India and the U.S. causes the most deaths globally of the countries we study. Economic consumption in most countries causes more deaths in other countries than domestically, with only Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia, India as exceptions. Per unit of economic demand, India, Indonesia and China cause the most deaths: with 4.1, 6.8 and 7.4 million USD spent per death, respectively, as compared to a global populated average of 20.2. Although consumption in the U.S. causes nearly 200,000 deaths per year, the number of deaths caused per unit of demand is relatively small compared with other countries. These findings shed light on the uneven effects of globalization on public health.