Some 3,300 people die prematurely in Bosnia each year as a result of exposure to air pollution, the World Bank Air Quality Management report said.

According to this report which was published in October 2019, the reasons for the alarmingly high levels of pollution over winter months are weaker policies for reducing air pollution, the use of solid fuels for heating, old cars (the average age of vehicles in Bosnia is 17 years), and the overall poor quality of liquid fuels.

“The region also houses seven of 10 coal-burning thermal power plants, which are among the biggest polluters in Europe,” the report said.

They also found that approximately 3,300 people in the country die prematurely every year as a result of exposure to PM25 air-polluting particles and that one in every 10 deaths every year can be attributed to air pollution.

Some of their recommendations to resolving this issue are stronger cooperation, better organisational framework, implementation of rules, strengthening of the legal framework, collecting data and analysis, etc.

This report also contains estimates of economic costs of health care of Bosnian citizens, affected by air pollution. The World Bank concluded that 8.2 percent of Bosnia’s GDP is spent on treating diseases caused by air pollution.