When it comes to the most polluted cities in the world, unfortunately, India is home to 15 out of 20 of them. This has been revealed after doing an analysis of air quality of several cities across the world. Gurugram in Harayana topped the list. This city had an average annual particulate matter (PM 2.5) quality of 135 g/m3 (micrograms/cubic metre) in 2018.
What’s More?
Even though looking at the smog and air quality of Delhi, you might expect it to top the list, but in fact, it holds the 11th spot, right behind Lahore in Pakistan and Hotan in China. Apart from Delhi and Gurugram other polluted cities in India include Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Noida, Patna, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Muzaffarpur, Varanasi, Moradabad, Agra, Gaya and Jind.
Out of the global cities analysed, around 64% of them exceeded the annual exposure guidelines of the World Health Organization, which is (10g/m3) for fine particulate matter also known as PM2.5. Depending on whether the areas are industrial or residential, India’s annual guidelines range from 40-60 g/m3. This ranking for the polluted cities is done based on a study that relies on ground-based sensors situated in 3000 cities based in 73 countries. The data was compiled by IQAir Group, a manufacturer of air-monitoring sensors along with purifiers and environmentalist group Greenpeace.
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When it comes to Southeast Asia, Hanoi and Jakarta are the two most polluted cities in that region. And surprisingly, average concentrations of pollutants fell in China by 12% from 2017 to 2018. Kudos China!
China is the 12th most polluted country in the world, making Beijing the 122nd most polluted country in the country. When ranked country-wise, Bangladesh is the most polluted country in the world, followed by Pakistan and India. Amongst all these polluted cities, Iceland comes clean, emerging as one with the cleanest air to breathe in.
Also Read: Delhi Government To Develop 11 New Forests To Curb Pollution
Well, we hope the polluted cities of India take measures to not top this list next year.