New Delhi. Last year, most of the 100 cities with the most polluted air in the world were from the same country. According to a report by IQAir, which tracks air quality across the world, 83 of the 100 most polluted cities were in India. Air quality in all these cities was several times worse than the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines.
The report analyzed the air quality of more than 7,800 cities in the world. Only 9 percent of these levels were as per WHO standards. The organization said that the average annual level of PM 2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter. Last year, Begusarai in the north Indian state of Bihar was the world’s most polluted city. The average annual PM2.5 here was 118.9.
This is 23 times more than WHO guidelines. Guwahati, Assam, Delhi, Punjab and other cities are also in this list. Asian countries are at the top of the list of countries with bad air pollution. At the top of the list, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India are ranked first to third respectively. Nepal was ranked eighth in the list of the most polluted countries. The annual PM2.5 of Nepal was 42.4. This is about 8 and a half times more than what is set by WHO