Despite moving up three spots from the year before on the list of nations with the poorest air quality, India performed poorly on the air pollution index in 2022, according to a report. The five most polluted nations in 2022 were Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, and Bangladesh. India fell three positions from the previous year's ranking to 8th place with Burkina Faso and Kuwait claiming the 6th and the 7th positions respectively. The other 2 countries in the top 10 are Egypt and Tajikistan.
14 out of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are located in India, according to the IQAir annual report on global air quality. The 2022 World Air Quality Report examines the condition of air quality globally for that calendar year. Data on PM2.5 air quality from 7,323 cities in 131 different nations, regions, and territories are included in this publication.
The top 20 most polluted cities in the world are:
1) Lahore, Pakistan
2) Hotan, China
3) Bhiwadi, India
4) Delhi, India
5) Peshawar, Pakistan
6) Darbhanga, India
7) Asopur, India
8) N'Djamena, Chad
9) New Delhi, India
10) Patna, India
11) Ghaziabad, India
12) Dharuhera, India
13) Baghdad, Iraq
14) Chapra, India
15) Muzzafarnagar, India
16) Faisalabad, Pakistan
17) Greater Noida, India
18) Bahadurgarh, India
19) Faridabad, India
20) Muzzafarpur, India
Much to be achieved in environmental equity
Over 30,000 regulatory air quality monitoring stations and low-cost air quality sensors were employed to get the data for this research. Governmental entities, research institutes, non-profit organisations, educational institutions, private businesses, and citizen scientists all over the world run these monitoring stations and sensors.
13 of the 131 nations and regions profiled in this report's 2022 findings have succeeded in obtaining PM2.5 levels at or below the WHO recommendation of 5 g/m3 for annual PM2.5 concentrations. Although much has been done to reduce air pollution, as this research shows, there is still a long way to go before environmental equity can be achieved. According to the WHO, people only live in 10% of the world's nations, regions, and territories where the air they breathe is safe for their health.
