Lack of toilets costs India $54b a year: World Bank

A lack of toilets and other proper sanitation facilities costs India nearly $54 billion a year, a World Bank study has found, mainly due to premature deaths, especially among young children.

Asia's third-largest economy is losing $53.8 billion annually, or 6.4 percent of its gross domestic product, through hygiene-related illnesses and other factors stemming from poor sanitation, said the study.

"For decades, we have been aware of the significant health impacts of inadequate sanitation in India," said Christopher Juan Costain, leader for the World Bank's South Asia Water and Sanitation Program. "This report quantifies the extent of these economic losses and highlights that children and poor households bear the brunt of poor sanitation."

The absence of basic amenities raises the threat of potentially fatal illnesses such as typhoid and malaria.

The East Asia study showed annual losses equivalent to $9.30 per person in Vietnam, $16.80 in the Philippines, $28.60 in Indonesia, peaking at $32.40 in Cambodia, said Costain. "In contrast, India lost $48 on a per capita basis, showing the urgency with which India needs to improve sanitation."

Another study earlier this year by the UN showed a wider proportion of Indians have access to a mobile phone than to a proper toilet. About 700 million people were mobile subscribers, more than half of India's 1.2 billion people, compared with 366 million with access to proper sanitation.

The report said early deaths and other health-related impacts of inadequate sanitation, including the cost of treatment for illnesses such as diarrhoea, malaria and intestinal worms, cost India $38.5 billion.

AFP