The Dilemma of Growth: Pollution and health impacts in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Amir Elalouf

One of our era’s greatest menaces is pollution, particularly air pollution, on account of its negative impact on climate change which has greatly influenced morbidity, mortality, and has a devastating effect on health. Pollution and its impact on health is a major substratum of economic growth because it tends to have a crippling effect on the economy of countries that have overindulged in pollution-causing activities. Pollution-prone countries are countries that are known to dominate the manufacture and supply of goods,  services, and raw materials and countries whose growth models are based on the availability of natural resources and their products. A perfect example of these types of countries is the group called the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). In this study, the mixed-method methodology was utilized in acquiring and analyzing secondary data on the economic growth and pollution in the BRICS countries, and case studies on the impact of pollution in certain parts of these countries were explored. The result of all the investigations showed that the creation of the NDB helped to preclude the “state of dependency” described by Andre Gunder Frank. We discovered that the high growth rate of the BRICS countries has had a negative impact on environmental quality over the years, industrialization and urbanization being the major factors influencing the growth rate.

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(This article was published in the  Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 43 No. 4 (2023), Oct-Dec / 2023, Pages 955-970)