India’s ranking on air pollution index improved by three places in 2022 and moved to the eighth spot in the list of countries with the worst air quality, according to a report published by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.
Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso and Kuwait are the top seven most polluted countries last year.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, the annual average PM2.5 level should be 5 µg/m3 or less but India’s annual average PM2.5 level in 2022 was 53.3 μg/m3, more than 10 times the safe limit and only slightly lower than the 2021 average of 58.1.
Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland and New Zealand are only six countries which met the WHO PM2.5 guideline (annual average of 5 µg/m3 or less) while a total of 118 (90%) out of 131 countries and regions exceeded the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline value of 5 µg/m3.
IQAir’s air quality scientists analysed data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,323 locations in 131 countries, territories, and regions for the report.
It pointed out that the region of Central and South Asia was home to eight of the world’s ten cities with the worst air pollution.
Lahore, which ranked 15 in 2021, is the most polluted metropolitan area of 2022. Delhi was ranked fourth.
“In 2022, more than half of the world’s air quality data was generated by grassroots community efforts. When citizens get involved in air quality monitoring, we see a shift in awareness and the joint effort to improve air quality intensifies. We need governments to monitor air quality, but we cannot wait for them. Air quality monitoring by communities creates transparency and urgency. It leads to collaborative actions that improves air quality,” states Frank Hammes, Global CEO, IQAir.
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