Gurugram breathing World's most polluted Air
Bengaluru, Mar 05: When it comes to pollution, people always talk about Delhi as most polluted city, but the reality is Gurugram is far ahead of it. Gurugram resulted highest annual concentration of particulate matter any global city recorded here during 2018.
Where as Indian capital ranks 10th for annual PM2.5 concentration. World's most polluted cities ranking, prepared in collaboration with Greenpeace Southeast Asia, to reveal the state of particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution in 2018. Situation in India goes worst when the focus is on Southern part of Asia. Out of 15 top polluted cities, 13 belongs to India.
Rest two from Pakistan. Where as 15 cities of Iran captured all top 15 slots in the list of the cleanest cities in South Asia. Here are the Key findings from the report:
Delhi is most polluted Capital city
According to WHO air quality guidelines 10μg/m³ is said to be as safe air. But only 9 capital cities falls under safe level. In the year 2018, Index level of average particulate matter (PM2.5) in Delhi was 113.5. Delhi is on the top of the table. Second most polluted capital city is Dhaka with 97.1 PM2.5 index. Third is Kabul, Afghanistan.
This capital city ranking compares annual mean PM2.5 values from the available regional capitals in this report's dataset. Countries from Asia and the Middle East occupy most of the top of this regional capital city ranking, with Delhi and Dhaka's values both 50% higher than the 3rd ranking capital, Kabul.
Gurugram has most unhealthy air
Of the 84 cities monitored in South Asia, 99% failed to meet the WHO annual guideline for PM2.5. As a whole, cities here average a PM2.5 concentration of 60 μg/m³, 6 times the recommended limit of 10 μg/m³. Gurugram is on the top of the most polluted cities in South Asia. Ghaziabad number 2, Faislabad of Pakistan is at No. 3.
If you compare Gurugram with the top polluted cities of different zone, even then Gurugram will be on the top. Here is the list of most polluted cities in terms of air quality in different regions of the World.
Region | Most Polluted City in the region | Country | (PM2.5 level) |
South Asia | Gurugram | India | 135.8 |
South East Asia | Jakarta | Indonesia | 45.3 |
East Asia | Hotan | China Mainland | 116.0 |
Middle East | Manama | Bahrain | 59.8 |
Europe | Likavac | Bosnia & Herzegovina | 55.6 |
North America | Andersen | USA | 27.8 |
Latin America & Caribbean | Padre Las Casas | Chile | 43.3 |
Africa | Kano | Nigeria | 53.4 |
Bangladesh emerges as the most polluted country
The 2018 World Air Quality Report presents PM2.5 air quality data as aggregated through the IQAir AirVisual platform in 2018. The data included is a subset of information provided through the platform, including only PM2.5 measured from ground-based stations with high data availability. Whilst the WHO estimates that 9 out of
10 people worldwide are now breathing unsafe polluted air, huge parts of the world still lack access to real-time data.
Out of the over 3000 cities included, 64% exceeded the WHO's annual exposure guideline for fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5. At a country level, weighted by population, Bangladesh emerges as the most polluted country on average, closely followed by Pakistan and India, with Middle Eastern countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia also within the top 10.
Why should we bother about PM2.5?
The report focuses on PM2.5 as a representative measure of air pollution. PM2.5 refers to particulate matter (ambient airborne particles) which measure up to 2.5 microns in size, and has a range of chemical makeups and sources. Due to its small size PM2.5 is able to penetrate deep into the human respiratory system and from there to the entire body, causing a wide range of short- and long-term health effects.