The polluted air in Brazil's largest cities is costing the public sector at least one billion dollars a year, according to the University of Sao Paulo's air pollution laboratory. The study focused on illnesses among children and the elderly — the most susceptible to respiratory problems –, the number of deaths and the duration of the illnesses associated with air pollution.

“We are going to dig deeper into the data, keeping in mind other age groups and factors like hospital costs and impacts on health,” Simone Miraglia, one of the researchers, told Tierramérica. The decision to quantify losses was made to create an impact on public policymakers, she said.

Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro lead the way in those costs, with 300 and 250 million dollars annually, respectively.