📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Prateek Sengupta
Health
Infertility, Asthma, and Lost Productivity: India's Urban Health Crisis Threatens Growth
✍️ Outlook Business
🗓 02 Nov 2026, 06:48 AM
👁 15
A recent Outlook Business analysis highlights how rising infertility and asthma rates in Indian cities are eroding productivity, posing a significant threat to the nation's economic growth.
Outlook Business has released a study pointing to a growing health crisis in Indian urban centers, where infertility and asthma are becoming major productivity drains.
The report cites a sharp rise in infertility cases, with more couples reporting difficulty conceiving, which translates into longer periods of medical treatment and lost workdays.
Asthma, meanwhile, is increasingly common in polluted city air, leading to frequent hospital visits and absenteeism among workers.
Together, these conditions are eroding the workforce’s output, threatening to slow India’s projected economic growth and undermine the country’s competitive edge.
The report cites a sharp rise in infertility cases, with more couples reporting difficulty conceiving, which translates into longer periods of medical treatment and lost workdays.
Asthma, meanwhile, is increasingly common in polluted city air, leading to frequent hospital visits and absenteeism among workers.
Together, these conditions are eroding the workforce’s output, threatening to slow India’s projected economic growth and undermine the country’s competitive edge.