AFP – Despite an improvement in 2024, India again dominated global rankings for the cities with the most dangerous particle smog while Chad was the most polluted country, according to a report published yesterday.
The report by IQAir, a Swiss air technology company, said India’s Byrnihat was the world’s “most polluted metropolitan area of 2024”. The Indian capital New Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital, closely followed by Chad’s N’Djamena. The Bangladesh capital Dhaka came third, ahead of Kinshasa and Islambad.
Chad topped the rankings for the most polluted country overall, with readings 18 times higher than World Health Organization (WHO) safe levels for concentrations of particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5)
It was followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and then India in fifth place. India was home to six of the world’s nine most polluted cities.
Byrnihat, an industrial town on the border of Meghalaya and Assam states, had a PM2.5 reading of 128.2 microgrammes per cubic metre on average in 2024, more than 25 times the WHO recommended level of five micrograms.
Concentrations across India were 50.6 microgrammes per cubic metre, 10 times the WHO safe level, according to the report by IQAir, made with Greenpeace’s support.
The overall level was seven per cent down from 2023, but Indian cities are still suffering badly from concentrations of small particles, which come from vehicles, agricultural burning, garbage and industrial waste.
South Asia’s pollution skyrockets in winter months, and highlighting India’s struggle, the report said that Baddi in Himachal Pradesh state had an average reading of 165 microns in January – 33 times the WHO safe level.
It said that five Pakistani cities saw levels rise above 200 microns during November.
The study was based on “more than 40,000 air quality monitoring stations across 8,954 locations in 138 countries, territories, and regions analysed by IQAir’s air quality scientists,” it said.
