A comparative distributional analysis of CO₂ emissions, intensity, damages, trade, health expenditure, and energy use in South Asia

South Asia faces a sustained tension between rapid economic expansion and growing environmental and public health pressures. Although the trade-energy-emissions-health relationship in the region has been studied with a range of parametric and single-country models, comparatively little descriptive work has placed CO₂ intensity and CO₂ damages alongside trade openness, energy consumption, and health expenditure across the full set of South Asian economies. This study addresses that descriptive gap. Using publicly available country-level data for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka over 1990–2020, we conduct an exploratory, comparative analysis using descriptive statistics, one-sample t-tests with Cohen's d and Hedges' g effect sizes, and the one-sample Chi-square and Kolmogorov–Smirnov non-parametric tests. The analysis is distributional and country-comparative; it does not estimate causal effects or long-run dynamic relationships. The results indicate that India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives correspond to the upper end of the regional distribution for CO₂-related indicators, while Bhutan, Nepal, and Afghanistan are linked with higher relative health expenditure. These cross-country patterns are associated with the qualitative expectations of the Environmental Kuznets Curve and Ecological Modernization Theory, which are used here as interpretive frameworks rather than empirically tested theories. The findings suggest directions for future panel-econometric, SEM, and dynamic modelling research aimed at assessing causal and long-run mechanisms.