Introduction

Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, with an estimated 78,145 to 88,229 deaths in 2019 alone, caused by exposure to fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) (World Bank, forthcoming). Bangladesh was ranked as the most polluted country in the world and its capital Dhaka as the second most polluted city each year between 2018 and 2021 (IQAir 2021).1 Moreover, between 2009 and 2019, four of the five top causes of total deaths in Bangladesh were directly associated with air pollution.2 The economic cost of these impacts on health is huge, estimated between 3.9 and 4.4 percent of Bangladesh’s gross domestic product in 2019 (World Bank, forthcoming).

Although there is global evidence linking air pollution and its effect on health, evidence from Bangladesh is limited. Moreover, the evidence that is available is constrained by narrow geographical coverage, conducted with small, nonrepresentative samples, or a lack of localized granular air pollution data that can effectively establish the link between air pollution and health. One of the important prerequisites to addressing these gaps is to first understand the contextual extent of the problem: that is, understanding the levels of air pollution in various parts of Bangladesh, and next, establishing how exposure to air pollutants interacts with and affects human health.

This report, the first of its kind from Bangladesh, provides evidence on the short-term effects of ambient air pollution on human health. The analysis, guided by existing literature, is based on individual- and household-level primary data on health conditions, localized air pollution data collected during the survey, and historical data from across the country on air pollution levels. The main highlights of the report are the following:

• Dhaka is the most polluted division, while Sylhet is the least polluted in

Bangladesh. The western side of the country appears to be more polluted than the eastern parts. • Sites with major construction and persistent traffic are the largest sources of ambient air pollution rather than brick kilns, as commonly believed.