The impact of PM2.5 pollution on residents’ health and economic loss accounting in China

Reasonable assessment of the health risks and economic losses of urban residents caused by air pollution is of great significance for regional air pollution control, environmental policy planning and implementation, and the construction of health in China. Based on the data of PM2.5 Concentration and population density in 338 Cities of China from 2015 To 2017, this paper estimates the premature death and related disease incidence caused by exposure to PM2.5 Pollution by the means of the Exposure-Response model,and assesses the direct economic losses of PM2.5 Pollution by the methods of the Life Value Method (VSL) and Disease Cost (COI). The results show that: 1) From 2015 To 2017, pM2.5 Mass concentration has improved to some extent, but the overall spatial pollution pattern has not changed significantly. The highly polluted areas are mainly distributed in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions and their surrounding cities; 2) PM2.5 Pollution has led to a significant reduction in terminal health losses and economic losses. Among them, the number of residents who lost terminal health decreased by 23.9%,the total economic loss of residents decreased by 24.24% from 1 824.96 Billion yuan in 2015 To 1 382.64 Billion yuan in 20173) The increase of urbanization rate exacerbates the impact of PM2.5 Pollution on the health problems and corresponding economic losses, especially in some cities with high pollution and high urbanization level, such as Beijing and Tianjin. In the future, measures should be taken in line with local conditions to strengthen PM2.5 Monitoring and control in key cities and effectively protect the public health of urban residents