The industrial hub of Gurugram (Gurgaon), 30 kilometres south-west of the Indian capital New Delhi, remained the world’s most polluted city, topping air pollution readings among the 3,000 cities that Greenpeace and AirVisual studied in its 2018 World Air Quality Report.
Indian cities accounted for 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities, according to a new report, while previously smog-filled Chinese cities have seen marked improvement.
The industrial hub of Gurugram (Gurgaon), 30 kilometres south-west of the Indian capital New Delhi, remained the world’s most polluted city, topping air pollution readings among the 3,000 cities that Greenpeace and AirVisual studied in its 2018 World Air Quality Report.
New Delhi itself is the world’s 11th most polluted city, according to the air quality index.
Across the board, the findings revealed that 64% of cities exceeded the World Health Organisation’s annual exposure guideline for PM2.5 fine particulate matter – tiny airborne particles, about a 40th of the width of a human hair, that are linked to a wide range of health problems.
New Delhi’s toxic air includes vehicle and industrial emissions, dust from building sites, smoke from the burning of rubbish and crop residue in nearby fields.
The city’s average annual concentration of PM2.5 per cubic metre of air was 113.5 in 2018, more than double the level of Beijing, which averaged 50.9 during the year, making it the eighth most polluted in the world.
In Chinese cities, the average concentrations fell by 12% from 2017 to 2018. Beijing ranks now as the 122nd most polluted city in the world in 2018, benefitting in recent years from improved legislation and greater political will to combat poor air quality.
In South-east Asia, the two most polluted cities were Jakarta and Hanoi. With Beijing’s air quality getting better, Jakarta risks overtaking China’s famously polluted capital soon.
Countries in ASEAN have also struggled with poor air quality. Among the worst offenders in the region were Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, at 11th, 17th and 23rd respectively. Indonesia averaged 42 microns of PM2.5 particulate, while Vietnam saw 32.6 in 2018.
Here are the world’s 20 most polluted cities,
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