NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s city of Lahore jumped more than 10 points to become the city with the worst air quality worldwide last year, said an annual worldwide survey by a Swiss maker of air purifiers.
The report published Tuesday by IQAir also maintained that Chad in central Africa had replaced Bangladesh as the country with the most polluted air last year.
The company, IQAir measures air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles named PM2.5. Its annual survey is widely cited by the government organizations and researchers.
Lahore’s air quality
It said that Lahore’s air quality worsened to 97.4 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter in 2022 from 86.5 in 2021, making it the most polluted city globally.
Chinese city Hotan, the only in the top 20 most polluted cities, followed Lahore with PM2.5 levels of 94.3 in 2022, an improvement from 101.5 particles per cubic meter in 2021. The following two cities in the rankings were Indian: Bhiwadi, a city on the outskirts of Delhi had pollution levels at 92.7, while Delhi followed close behind at 92.6 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter.
The World Health Organization approves a maximum PM2.5 micrograms per cubic meter.
While Chad had an average level of 89.7 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter, Iraq, which had the second most polluted air for a country, averaged 80.1 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter .
Pakistan, which had two of the five cities with the worst air quality last year, stood third in the nation-wide ranking at 70.9 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter, followed by Bahrain at 66.6 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter.
Bangladesh’s air quality recorded an improvement from 2021, when it was labelled as the country with the worst air quality. It is ranked 5th in the latest report, with PM2.5 levels coming down to 65.8 from 76.9 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter.
India has has some of the most polluted areas on the earth, but ranked 8th in the latest report, with PM2.5 levels at 53.3 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter.
The report said that Pakistan and India experienced the worst air quality in the South and Central Asian region, where nearly 60% of the population lives in the areas where the concentration of PM2.5 particles is at least seven times higher than World Health Organisation’s recommended levels.
The report further said one in 10 people globally were living in an area where air pollution poses a threat to human health.
The United States Pacific territory Guam had cleaner air than any country, with a PM2.5 concentration of 1.3 micrograms per cubic meter, while Canberra had the cleanest air for a capital city, with 2.8 micrograms per cubic meter.
The report/index was prepared using data from more than 30,000 air quality monitors in more than 7,300 locations in 131 territories, countries and regions.
