India, in 2022, ranked 8th out of 131 countries with a population-weighted average PM2.5 level of 53.3 μg/m3, remaining one of the top 10 most polluted nations globally.
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What is IQAir?
IQAir is a Swiss air quality technology company that prepares annual world air quality reports based on data from monitoring stations operated by governments and other institutions and organizations across the world. The 2022 report measures air quality levels on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles known as Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5), a pollutant from 7,323 cities and 131 countries, closely tracked by scientists and health experts. Its annual survey is widely used by researchers and government organizations for policy formulation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a maximum PM2.5 concentration of 5μg/m3. The US Pacific territory Guam with a PM2.5 concentration of 1.3 had cleaner air in the survey, while Canberra with 2.8 μg/m3 had the cleanest air for a capital city. India, dropping from the fifth spot the previous year, is ranked as the 8th most polluted country following Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, and Kuwait on this list.
Lahore in Pakistan, according to the survey, hopped more than 10 places to become the most polluted city in the world in 2022. Lahore’s air quality worsened to 97.4 μg/m3 of PM2.5 particles from 86.5 μg/m3 in 2021, making it the most polluted city globally. Hotan in China is the second most polluted city in the world and the infamous reputation of being the world’s most polluted capital goes to N’Djamena of Chad. The report also said India and Pakistan experienced the worst air quality in the Central and South Asian region which is home to eight of the world’s ten cities with the worst air pollution.
Consistency of India
About 60% of cities in India surveyed had pollution at nearly seven times the WHO standards. 6 out of the top 10, 14 out of the top 20, 39 out of the top 50, and 65 out of the top 100 most polluted cities are in India. These include cities like Noida, Gurgaon, Darbhanga, Bulandshahr, Asopur, Patna, Meerut, Charkhi Dadri, Jind, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Faridabad, and Greater Noida. The report pegs the PM2.5 level of most polluted Indian cities at 53.3 and puts the economic cost of air pollution in India at $150 billion, with the transportation sector resulting in 20-35% of the PM2.5 pollution. Other sources of pollution are industrial units, biomass burning, and coal-fired power plants.
Image Source: Mint
The 5th Annual World Air Quality Report revealed that New Delhi being the second most polluted capital city in the world is not the most polluted city in India. Delhi has been the most polluted capital for four consecutive years till 2021 but this year the report has distinguished New Delhi, having an annual average PM2.5 level of 89.1 μg/m3 from ‘greater’ Delhi. The most polluted city in India in 2022 was Rajasthan’s Biwadi, which had an annual PM2.5 level of 92.7 μg/m3.
Surprisingly, as many as 31 cities have seen a double-digit percentage decline in pollution levels but on the other hand, as many as 38 cities and towns have witnessed a hike in pollution compared to an average of previous years. In 2022, India vowed to reset its National Clean Air Program targets with the aim of cutting the particulate matter concentrations by 40% by 2026. However, the report also highlights policy decisions including the relaxation of environmental regulations for coal mines, allowing for increased production, and clearing forest patches for infrastructure projects led to the ever-increasing concentration of particulate matter.
At such chronically high levels of pollution, the elderly and children whose lungs are still developing, and the unwell, especially those with asthma, cancer, and diabetes among other diseases are very much prone to risk.