Air Pollution Mortality in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden

• Main Authors: Ulla Lehmijoki, Elena Rovenskaya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Population Research Institute of Väestöliitto 2009-01-01
• Series: Finnish Yearbook of Population Research
• Online Access: https://journal.fi/fypr/article/view/45047

The adverse health consequences of air pollution are of concern currently and there is a fear that these consequences escalate along with economic growth. The effect of economic growth on air pollution deaths is analyzed in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden by applying the Environmental Kuznets Curve approach, according to which economic growth has competing effects on air pollution and related deaths. On the one hand, emissions tend to increase as the scale of economic activity increases, but on the other hand, consumers and firms in richer countries use cleaner goods and adopt cleaner technologies. In Denmark and Finland, the latter effects are stronger, while in Sweden the opposite is true. Therefore, air pollution deaths will decrease in Denmark and Finland but increase in Sweden. Since country's own emissions do not determine air pollution completely, the paper briefly analyzes emissions from the Baltic countries and Russia.