In its ‘World Air Quality Report’ published on Tuesday, Swiss firm IQAir ranked India the eighth most polluted country, down from fifth in 2021. Out of the 50 most polluted cities in the world, 39 are in India.
Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Kuwait, India, Egypt and Tajikistan were the top 10 most polluted countries while Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, and New Zealand met the World Health Organization (WHO) PM2.5 guideline (annual average of 5 Aug/m3 or less).
Over 30,000 ground-based monitors, either government or non-government operated, collected data from 131 countries. In India, 20-35 percent of PM2.5 pollution is caused by the transportation sector, while industrial units, coal-fired power plants, and biomass burning also contribute to this pollution. After the two top most-polluted cities, Lahore in Pakistan and Hotan in China, Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi is in third place and Delhi ranked fourth.
According to the report, Delhi’s PM2.5 level is almost 20 times the safe limit. As of now, Delhi is the most polluted capital in the world, with the report making a distinction between ‘greater’ Delhi and New Delhi. Both are in the top 10 and the infamous distinction of being the world’s most polluted capital goes to Chad’s N’Djamena.
National Capital’s peripherals– Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad have seen a decline in pollution levels. According to the report, PM2.5 levels have declined 34 percent in Gurugram and 21 percent in Faridabad compared to previous years’ averages.
There has been an eight percent decline in Delhi. Each year, poor air quality causes 93 billion days of illness and over six million deaths worldwide. “The total economic cost equates to over $8 trillion dollars, surpassing 6.1 percent of the global annual GDP. Exposure to air pollution causes and aggravates several health conditions which include, but are not limited to, asthma, cancer, lung illnesses, heart disease, and premature mortality,” the report said.
There has been a steep decline in pollution levels in 31 cities, including 10 in Uttar Pradesh and seven in Haryana, according to the report. “A total of 38 cities and towns have seen a rise in pollution compared to an average of previous years,” stated the report. The report ranked Kolkata the second most polluted city among the six metros. Despite this, Chennai was said to be the cleanest with pollution ‘just’ 5x the WHO’s safe level. The metro cities — Hyderabad and Bengalurua — saw pollution levels uptick over the average since 2017.
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