In a shocking revelation, seven of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world are from India, said an air quality report. The report shows that Delhi has been ranked the most polluted capital in the world, while Gurugram is the most polluted city.
Meanwhile, Amritsar ranks 57th with an average yearly PM2.5 concentration at 60.6 micrograms per cubic metre, on the other hand, Mumbai ranks at 71st with an average yearly PM2.5 concentration at 58.6 micrograms per cubic metre. According to NDTV, three other Indian cities joined Faisalabad, Pakistan, in the top five.
According to the latest data compiled in the IQ Air Visual 2018 World Air Quality Report and interactive world’s most polluted cities ranking, which is prepared in collaboration with Greenpeace Southeast Asia in order to reveal the state of particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution in 2018, Delhi had an average yearly PM2.5 concentration at 113.5 micrograms per cubic metre.
The report is based on air quality data collected in 2018 from public monitoring sources, with a special focus on data which has been published in real-time or near real-time. “These sources include government monitoring networks as well as validated data from air quality monitors operated by private individuals and organisations”, the report stated.
The report also said that out of the 3,000 cities studied, 64 percent exceeded that World Health Organisation (WHO) exposure guideline for PM 2.5. In South Asia, 99 percent of the cities exceeded WHO’s safe standard to PM 10 exposure.
According to a Bloomberg report citing the World Bank, India takes healthcare costs and productivity losses from the pollution of as much as 8.5 percent of the gross domestic product. NDTV further reported that Beijing has made a significant improvement since 2013, when it topped all the charts and the city’s pollution levels have gone down by 40 percent since then.
