Yesterday the World Environment Day was celebrated. It is celebrated on the 5th of June each year.

In this context, there are several shocking facts about air pollution in India.

Here is a list of some of them:

• Air pollution is one of the most leading killers in the country.
• More than one lakh children under the age of five are dying due to air pollution each year.
• The State of India’s Environment (SoE) report shows that air pollution contributes to 12.5 per cent of all deaths in India.
• It says that 8.5 boys and 9.6 girls out of every 10,000 children are dying before they turn five due to poor air quality.
• In 2017 more than 1.2 million people died due to air pollution.
• Though the government is taking several initiatives to control air pollution, they have not been as successful as expected.
• New Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world as per the report of Greenpeace. Its air standards are in ‘healthy’ standards for just 7 days in the period of 730 days during 2013 and 2015.
• Beijing’s air standards are better than that with 58 days during the same period.
• The rise in Particulate Matter (PM) levels in Delhi are associated with nearly 6 million asthma attacks each year.
• Several studies showed that not just the outdoor pollution, but indoor pollution has also been increased.
• India is homed to 22 of the 50 most polluted cities in the world.
• Pollution is also affected by seasonal variations. The worst air quality is seen during winter between October and December especially during the festival of Diwali.
• More than one million people are dying in the country due to household pollution. There are no proper ways to control or reduce pollution.

Image by Ralf Vetterle from Pixabay ( Free for commercial use )

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/photos/industry-sunrise-air-pollution-1752876/