NEW DELHI: India houses 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, with Assam’s Byrnihat topping the list, according to a report by IQAir, a Swiss organisation.
The report released on Tuesday said that despite a slight reduction in air pollution, Delhi remained the most polluted capital city in the world in 2024. A slight decrease in dangerous PM2.5 concentrations improved India’s ranking from third in 2023 to fifth in 2024.
Delhi grapples with high air pollution year-round, and the problem worsens in winter when unfavourable weather conditions, combined with vehicular emissions, paddy-straw burning, firecrackers, and other local pollution sources, make the air hazardous.
Four cities in Pakistan and one in China are among the world’s top 20 polluted cities.
The report — ‘2024 World Air Quality’ — states that India’s 10 cities, especially those in the Indo-Gangetic region, have been featured in the top 15 polluted cities of the South and Central Asian region. Globally, the region is home to the world’s top nine most polluted cities. Byrnihat, an industrial township on the Assam-Meghalaya border, has been identified as the most polluted metropolitan area.
Overall, the report said that 35% of Indian cities reported annual PM2.5 levels exceeding 10 times the World Health Organization (WHO) limit of 5 micrograms per cubic metre.