| The World Bank’s Water Sanitation Program estimates that a lack of toilets and poor hygiene practices costs India almost 6.4 percent of its GDP, or $54 billion every year.
“For decades, we have been aware of the significant impacts of inadequate sanitation in India,” Christopher Juan Costain, the World Bank’s head for South Asia’s water and sanitation program said. “The report quantifies the economic losses to India, and shows that children and poor households bear the brunt of poor sanitation.” The report, Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India estimates 450,000 deaths out of 575 million cases of diarrhea in every year in India, at a cost $38.5 billion. It projects $10.7 million is lost in productive time to access sanitation facilities.
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