World Bank documents show that about 750,000 people a year die from pollution-related causes in China. The Chinese government had the bank suppress that segment of a report on the country because it may have caused social unrest.
China also successfully pushed for the removal of a detailed map showing which parts of the country suffered the most deaths, the newspaper said.
“The World Bank was told that it could not publish this information. It was too sensitive and could cause social unrest,” the Financial Times quoted one adviser to the study as saying.