Climate change is taking an increasing toll on Bangladesh’s health and economy, with heat exposure alone causing an estimated $17.5 billion loss in potential earnings in 2025, according to the 2026 Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change.
Heatwave exposure among infants and older people has more than doubled from the 1986-2005 average, while human-caused fine particulate air pollution was responsible for an estimated 239,000 deaths in 2023.
The report highlights growing threats to health and livelihoods in Bangladesh and calls for climate change to be recognised and addressed as a global health emergency.
The 10th annual Lancet Countdown report finds that many climate-related health risks and harms grew faster during 2016-2025 than in the preceding decade.
The Bangladesh findings were presented at a national launch at BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka today (1 Nov), organised by BRAC University’s Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER), with support from the Climate Change and Health Promotion Unit (CCHPU) of the Health Services Division.
In the keynote presentation, Shouro Dasgupta, an environmental economist at Fondazione CMCC, said Bangladesh lost an average of more than 26 billion potential labour hours annually during 2016-2025 due to heat exposure, 71% higher than the annual average in the 1990s.
During 2021-2025, infants and people aged over 65 experienced an average of 7.6 and 7.2 heatwave days a year, respectively, up 162% and 136% from 1986-2005, Shouro, also visiting senior fellow at the Grantham Research Institute, said.
Md Golam Rabbani, director of C3ER, said although Bangladesh’s climate policies recognise health as a priority alongside agriculture and water, implementation lacks the necessary attention and resources.
Air pollution underscores need for cleaner energy
Deaths linked to human-caused PM2.5 pollution rose 40% in Bangladesh between 2016 and 2023, with fossil fuels accounting for 37.5% of such deaths in 2023.
Household air pollution was separately associated with 77,500 deaths that year, down from 90,700 in 2016. The monetised value of premature deaths from air pollution reached $77.6 billion, equivalent to 16.4% of GDP.
Meanwhile, the energy system became 9.9% more carbon-intensive between 2016 and 2023. Net fossil fuel subsidies reached $5.3 billion in 2024, equivalent to 52.9% of the national health budget.
Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Advanced Studies (CSD), said climate change and health were directly linked, with rising temperatures severely affecting working people and increasing health risks for mothers and children.
Stronger support needed for health adaptation
Ainun Nishat, emeritus professor at BRAC University’s Centre of Climate Change and Environmental Research, said the report provides an important evidence base, but responses must reflect local realities.
However, many people have no choice but to work outdoors, even during extreme heat.
“Our priority must now be to implement the Health National Adaptation Plan, with particular attention to food security, nutrition and vector-borne diseases,” he added.
Tahrim Ariba Chaudhury, global climate and health lead at GSCC, said climate-related health costs, including families’ out-of-pocket medical expenses, must feature prominently in policy discussions at COP31.
She also stressed the need to make renewable energy an attractive and profitable investment in Bangladesh to support a sustainable energy transition and protect public health.
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