India 8th most polluted country in the world, 39 Indian cities among 50 most polluted: 2022 World Air Quality Report

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India 8th most polluted country in the world, 39 Indian cities among 50 most polluted: 2022 World Air Quality Report
Delhi has served significant time as the tragic king of air pollution, crowned via the butt of countless concerns masked as jokes on the internet. However, last year, we also witnessed a tug o' war between multiple cities vying for Delhi's smoggy throne, with metro cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai usurping the national capital on many occasions.
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While many reports have indeed shown that India has been faring somewhat better than the previous years, exorbitant air pollution continues to haunt the country. This places a tremendous burden on Indian human health, and we continue populating the top spot among the world's most polluted countries year after year.

Now, a new report confirms these lamentable results once again. IQAir's newly published 2022 World Air Quality Report measured and reviewed the 2022 PM2.5 air quality data from over 7,300 cities across 131 countries. Drum roll: we ranked eighth among the world's most polluted countries in the world.

Exceeding limits by seven times


While there was a slight overall improvement over 2021 levels, our current average PM2.5 concentration of 53.3 micrograms/cubic metre still remains a catastrophic ten times over the World Health Organisation's safe limit. Roughly 60% of the Indian cities in the report exceeded WHO limits by over seven times! The only countries beating us to the top spot include Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso and Kuwait.

While New Delhi has held the title of the most polluted capital in the world for a while now, the 2022 report shows a clear dethroning. The country's capital was pushed to second place, after Chad's N'Djamena, with a minuscule difference of only 0.6 micrograms per cubic metre (89.1 versus 89.7).

Worsening conditions in metro cities


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As for our metro cities, there have been ups and downs since last year. While average PM2.5 levels improved by 4.2 points in Delhi, the same improvement cannot be seen in other cities. PM2.5 levels remained the same in Kolkata as of 2021, while it increased by 0.3, 3, 2.5 and 0.1 points in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, respectively.

In fact, according to current rankings on the webpage, 39 Indian cities dominate the top 50 spots among the world's most polluted cities. Among the top ten, we find Rajasthan's Bhiwadi (#3), Delhi (#4), Bihar's Darbhanga (#6) and Asopur (#7), followed by the all-too-familiar New Delhi (#9) and Patna (#10).

The report has clearly outlined that South Asia (including India) has a pollution problem, being home to eight of the ten most polluted cities in the world. Of the 15 most polluted cities in this region, 12 were from India. This is clearly a problem that needs prompt mitigation, considering air pollution is the second biggest risk factor for diseases based on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease report, annually slashing $150 billion dollars from our economy.

Lack of dependable emission tracking


As a special note, the report outlines that we need a better system to track our air pollution progress.

"A 2021 study shows that global and regional estimates agree on the leading sources of air pollution in India, but they vary significantly from in terms of uncertainty associated with these estimations," the report reads.

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And this is true. We know that the transportation, power generation, and agriculture sectors contribute significantly to PM2.5 emissions. But delineating appropriate reduction measures requires knowing which sectors require more attention, which can only be determined once we know their exact emission contributions.

"A comprehensive national emission database is critical in determining sectoral emission reductions needed to meet the targeted 40 percent reduction in particulate concentrations by 2026 outlined in the National Clean Air Program," the report recommends.

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While there was a slight overall improvement over the previous 2021 levels, our current average PM2.5 concentration of 53.3 micrograms/cubic metre still remains a catastrophic ten times over the World Health Organisation's safe limit. Roughly 60% of the Indian cities in the report exceeded WHO limits by over seven times!

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While there was a slight overall improvement over the previous 2021 levels, our current average PM2.5 concentration of 53.3 micrograms/cubic metre still remains a catastrophic ten times over the World Health Organisation's safe limit. Roughly 60% of the Indian cities in the report exceeded WHO limits by over seven times!

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Climate change spiking ground-ozone levels, could lead to higher heart attack and stroke risk

Climate change spiking ground-ozone levels, could lead to higher heart attack and stroke risk

While there was a slight overall improvement over the previous 2021 levels, our current average PM2.5 concentration of 53.3 micrograms/cubic metre still remains a catastrophic ten times over the World Health Organisation's safe limit. Roughly 60% of the Indian cities in the report exceeded WHO limits by over seven times!
Rampant biomass burning for heating and cooking may be driving Delhi's severe winter night pollution, haze problem

Rampant biomass burning for heating and cooking may be driving Delhi's severe winter night pollution, haze problem

While there was a slight overall improvement over the previous 2021 levels, our current average PM2.5 concentration of 53.3 micrograms/cubic metre still remains a catastrophic ten times over the World Health Organisation's safe limit. Roughly 60% of the Indian cities in the report exceeded WHO limits by over seven times!