Bangladesh saw the fifth highest air pollution-related deaths globally in 2021 among children aged below five, with the deaths accounting for 40% of all deaths in the age group, according to the US-based State of Global Air 2024 report.

In 2021, Bangladesh recorded total 236,300 deaths in all age groups from air pollution with children aged below five accounting for 19,100 of the fatality.

Air pollution is also the factor behind 40% of deaths among children aged below five in 2021 in other South Asian countries and four African regions, the report claimed.

Exposure to ozone is of particular concern in Bangladesh, causing the third largest ozone-related Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) deaths in the world in 2021.

Bangladesh recorded 15,000 ozone-related COPD deaths and, together with the disease list’s topper India and number two China, accounted for 50% of the global deaths from the lung disease.

The US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation have published the State of Global Air 2024 report with support from UNICEF.