Worlds’ top polluted cities are in India: WHO

It is shocking but true that the world’s top most polluted cities are in India. Unlike what many people think, Delhi is not in the first place.

However, Kanpur is the most polluted city in the world in terms of air pollution. With PM 2.5 annual average of 173 micrograms per cubic metre, Kanpur stood in the first place in the list.

Yesterday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released data revealing the top 20 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM 2.5 levels in 2016.

Out of 20 cities, 14 cities are in India. In addition to Kanpur, Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur are in the list.

Delhi stood in the sixth place in 2016 with PM 2.5 annual average of 143 micrograms per cubic metre. This is 3 times more than the prescribed national safety standard.

The research was conducted in 4,000 cities in 100 countries. The data revealed that the pollution levels of the National Capital improved only marginally between the years 2010 and 2014. But, they were worse in 2015.

Air pollution is one of the top most reasons for several deadly diseases. In last year alone, approximately 7 million deaths were caused by household and outdoor pollution.

The data shows that 34 per cent of the total deaths were caused by ischemic heart disease, 21 per cent of deaths were by pneumonia, 20 per cent were due to stroke, 19 per cent of the deaths were due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 7 per cent of deaths were caused by lung cancer.

The study emphasizes the need of controlling this alarming air pollution as 9 out of 10 people in the world are exposed to dangerously high levels of pollutants. As a result, the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases has also been increased.

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