/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/26/2024-12-26t112006978z-wion-white-logo-for-website-2-1.png){kind=logo}
/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/13/2024-12-13t071548098z-wionlogo.webp)
/wion/media/member_avatars/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022/06/15/271034-98a909a8-1088-4b71-8b68-59aed6ecd60d.jpeg)
/wion/media/post_attachments/files/2022/08/18/288625-r.jpeg)
New Delhi, India
In terms of average annual population-weighted PM 2.5 exposure, Delhi and Kolkata are the two most polluted cities in the world, according to recent research, 'Air Pollution and Health in Cities', published by the Health Effects Institute's (HEI) State of Global Air Initiative.
Mumbai came in at number 14. There are no other Indian cities in the top 20. Beijing had the largest disease burden associated with a PM 2.5-related illness, with 124 attributable fatalities per 100,000 persons. Kolkata ranked eighth with 99 deaths per 100,000, while Delhi came in sixth with 106 deaths. In the top 20, there were five Chinese cities.
The study encompassed 7,000 cities in total, but only 103 of the most populous ones from six regions were taken into account for the ranking.
No Indian city appeared in the top 20 cities for NO2 exposure, with Shanghai having the worst average exposure. Cities all throughout the world had levels of PM 2.5 and NO2 that were higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The average PM 2.5 exposure in Delhi was 110 micrograms per cubic metre in 2019, which is 22 times higher than the WHO standard of 5 micrograms per cubic metre, according to the research. The average exposure in Kolkata was 84 micrograms per cubic metre.
Moscow in Russia came in second with an average NO2 exposure of 41.6 micrograms per cubic metre (40.2 micrograms per cubic metre). The WHO recommended exposure level for NO2 is 10 micrograms per cubic metre. According to the research, 86% of the more than 7,000 cities it covered in 2019 had pollution exposure levels over the WHO threshold, which had an effect on about 2.6 billion people.
According to the study, exposure to PM 2.5 was responsible for 29,900 deaths in Delhi, 21,380 in Kolkata, and 16,020 in Mumbai in 2019. In contrast, PM 2.5 exposure caused 26,270 fatalities in Beijing in 2019.
The study, which examined data from 2010 to 2019, also discovered that there were notable differences between global exposure patterns for the two main air pollutants, NO2 and PM 2.5. While it was shown that cities in low- and middle-income nations had higher exposure to fine particulate matter, cities in high- and middle-income countries also had high exposure to nitrogen dioxide or NO2. The main ways that NO2 is released into the atmosphere are through power plants and automobile emissions.
(with inputs from agencies)