Does Air Pollution Aggravate Health Problems in Low-Income Countries? Verification from Countries Along the Belt and Road

Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. However, most of the countries along the Belt and Road are low-income countries in the initial stages of industrialization, which are also facing serious air pollution and health problems while promoting economic growth. This is also a fact that both China and its partner countries along the Belt and Road need to take into account when it comes to economic cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road. This review selected 91 papers from academic databases such as CNKI, Web of Science and Sci-hub from 2013 to 2024 to analyze the impact of air pollution on health in countries along the Belt and Road and compared it with countries not along the Belt and Road. The paper makes the following findings: First, air pollution is very harmful to general health and has produced specific diseases related to lung function and children’s respiratory health in countries along the Belt and Road, similar to countries not along the Belt and Road. Second, mortality, mental health, and related health expenditures result from higher air pollution in Belt and Road countries more so than in non-Belt and Road countries. Therefore, when China conducts economic cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road, it should take the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) as the direction and fully consider local environmental pollution, social and economic issues, and health issues to ensure the long-term sustainable economic growth of the Belt and Road in the future.