Smoking, consuming high-calorie fast food and being a couch potato will not only cut short your lifespan but will also cost the country dear.
A report, jointly prepared by the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum, says India will incur an accumulated loss of $236.6 billion by 2015 on account of unhealthy lifestyles and faulty diet.
The resultant chronic diseases – heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and respiratory infections – which are ailments of long duration and slow progression, will severely affect people’s earnings.
The income loss to Indians because of these diseases, which was $8.7 billion in 2005, is projected to rise to $54 billion in 2015. Pakistan would face an accumulated loss of $30.7 billion with income loss increasing by $5.5 billion to $6.7 billion by 2015.
China, however, will be worse off. While its accumulated loss will stand at $557.7 billion, the loss of income of the Chinese will stand at $131.8 billion, almost eight times what it was in 2005.