Countries with the highest exposure to poverty and pollution have been revealed in a new report titled, “Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies,” according to the World Bank. Nigeria, India, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have the highest poverty and pollution exposure amongst all countries. The report revealed that trillions of dollars are spent on subsidies for agriculture, fishing, and fossil fuels that would otherwise be used to address climate change.
The world bank also noted that there are about 716 million poor people residing in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution. An alarming 80% of people exposed to unsafe levels of PM in both low and middle-income countries (LMIC) account for this figure. The report further stated that 48.6% of the extreme poor who are exposed to unsafe concentrations of PM globally reside in India, Congo, and Nigeria, with India being the highest at 14.7% of their population.
The Top 10 countries have been identified and account for 67.8% of all extreme poor exposed to unsafe pollution. The list includes India, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with Angola, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Niger.
Axel van Trotsenburg, the Senior Managing Director of the World Bank, highlighting the importance of the report states that there is money for climate change, but it is deployed poorly. With the vast amount of capital being spent on subsidies every year, Axel agreed that if they were rechanneled towards greener and better means, countless planetary challenges could be alleviated.
The report further states that, “If we could repurpose the trillions of dollars being spent on wasteful subsidies and put these to better, greener uses, we could together address many of the planet’s most pressing challenges.”
