The Swiss company IQAir recently released its ‘World Air Quality Report.’ According to this report, India is the eighth most polluted country in the world in 2022, which is a decline from its previous rank of fifth. Furthermore, out of the top 50 most polluted cities in the world, 39 of them are located in India.
In this list, Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Kuwait, India, Egypt, and Tajikistan are the top ten most polluted countries while Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, and New Zealand met the World Health Organization (WHO) PM2.5 guideline of annual average of 5 Aug/m3 or less.
The data used for the report was taken from over 30,000 government or non-government operated ground-based monitors from 131 countries. The transportation sector is the highest contributor of PM2.5 pollution in India, responsible for 20-35 percent of it. Other sources of pollution include industrial units, coal-fired power plants and biomass burning.
Amongst the 50 most polluted cities in the world, Lahore in Pakistan and Hotan in China are ranked top two. Bhiwadi in Rajasthan is in third place, and Delhi ranks fourth. According to the report, Delhi’s PM2.5 level is almost 20 times more than the safe limit.
The report made a distinction between “greater” Delhi and New Delhi as both cities are located in the top 10 of most polluted cities in the world. Chad’s N’Djamena holds the infamous title of the world’s most polluted capital.
The outskirts of Delhi, including Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and Faridabad, have seen a decrease in the level of pollution. The report stated that there has been a decline of 34 percent in Gurugram and 21 percent in Faridabad compared to the average PM2.5 levels reported in previous years. Delhi has seen a decline of eight percent.
The report highlights that worldwide, bad air quality causes 93 billion days lived with illness, and over six million deaths each year. Furthermore, the total economic cost amounts to over $8 trillion dollars, surpassing 6.1 percent of the global annual GDP.
Moreover, exposure to air pollution can cause and aggravate various health conditions that include, but are not limited to, asthma, cancer, lung illnesses, heart disease, and premature mortality.
According to the report, 31 Indian cities, including ten in Uttar Pradesh and seven in Haryana, witnessed a significant decrease in the level of pollution, while 38 cities have seen a rise in pollution compared to the average of previous years.
Kolkata was ranked the most polluted city after Delhi among the six metro cities. However, Chennai is considered to be the cleanest with pollution levels just five times higher than the WHO’s safe limit. The metro cities Hyderabad and Bengaluru have seen a rise in their pollution levels since 2017.
