
This city's air is the most polluted in India - It's not Delhi
India, meanwhile, is still having problems with air pollution; it ranks sixth in the world in terms of smog levels, behind the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bangladesh, Pakistan, and Chad.
According to the research, PM2.5 concentrations in india decreased by 7% in 2024, averaging 50.6 micrograms per cubic meter as opposed to 54.4 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023. However, india is home to 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world.
Delhi's annual average PM2.5 concentration increased from 102.4 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023 to 108.3 micrograms per cubic meter in 2024, indicating a worsening of the city's air pollution.
Only 17% of cities worldwide meet the WHO's recommended PM2.5 levels of no more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
The U.S. State Department's decision to end its air quality monitoring program due to budgetary constraints has created new hurdles for the global fight against air pollution.
Africa's capacity to monitor pollution levels has been severely hampered by this action, which has erased more than 17 years' worth of data from the US government's official air quality website, airnow.gov.
Experts stress the necessity for alternate monitoring techniques to cover the void left by the US program, warning that the lack of trustworthy data may impede efforts to reduce pollution.
The need to address these issues is becoming more pressing since air pollution causes millions of preventable lives every year.