New Delhi: New Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital for the third straight yr in 2020, in line with IQAir, a Swiss group that measures air high quality ranges primarily based on the focus of lung-damaging airborne particles identified as PM2.5.
India was dwelling to 35 of the world`s 50 most polluted cities, in line with IQAir`s 2020 World Air Quality Report, which gathered information for 106 international locations.
The findings have been primarily based on the nation`s annual common of particulate matter PM2.5, airborne particles with lower than 2.5 microns in diameter. Prolonged publicity to PM2.5 can result in lethal illnesses, together with most cancers and cardiac issues.
In 2020, New Delhi`s common annual focus of PM2.5 in a cubic meter of air was 84.1, the study mentioned, greater than double the extent of Beijing, which averaged 37.5 in the course of the yr, making it the 14th most polluted metropolis on this planet.
Air air pollution triggered an estimated 54,000 untimely deaths in New Delhi in 2020, in line with a current study by Greenpeace Southeast Asia Analysis and IQAir.
Despite an 11% discount within the annual common of PM2.5 ranges attributable to nationwide coronavirus lockdown curbs imposed final yr, India emerged as the world`s third most polluted nation after Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“Air pollution in India is still dangerously high,” the report mentioned.
In 2020, South Asia endured among the world`s worst air high quality on file, it mentioned.
Last yr, Delhi`s 20 million residents, who breathed among the cleanest air on file in summer season months as a result of lockdown curbs, battled poisonous air in winter, following a pointy enhance in farm fireplace incidents within the neighbouring state of Punjab.
As the burning of crop stubble peaked, Delhi`s PM2.5 ranges averaged 144 micrograms per cubic metre in November and 157 micrograms per cubic metre in December, exceeding the World Health Organisation`s annual publicity guideline by greater than 14 occasions, it mentioned.
