These Are The 100 Most Polluted Cities In The World In 2018

April 28, 2019

Greenpeace and software company AirVisual by IQAir have just released the latest world air quality report on the world’s most polluted cities. It shows that out of the top 30 most polluted cities, 22 are in India, 5 are in China, 2 in Pakistan and 1 is in Bangladesh. Although India may have the most cities on the list, it is actually Bangladesh that is the world’s most polluted country on average when weighted by population (India is second and Pakistan third).

Pollution in India — Indian schoolchildren cover their faces as they walk to school amid heavy smog in New Delhi on November 8, 2017. Delhi shut all primary schools on November 8 as pollution levels hit nearly 30 times the World Health Organization safe level, prompting doctors in the Indian capital to warn of a public health emergency. Dense grey smog shrouded the roads of the world’s most polluted capital, where many pedestrians and bikers wore masks or covered their mouths with handkerchiefs and scarves. / AFP PHOTO / SAJJAD HUSSAIN

Jai Dhar Gupta, founder of Indian pollution mask company Nirvana Being, told The New York Times:

“We’re still in denial. The priority for 99 percent of Indians is necessities: food, shelter and clothing. Health and environment are not even in the top 10.”

Table of Contents

How They Measured Pollution Levels:

The report assessed 3,000 cities by analyzing their 2018 air quality data.
They assessed the levels of particulate matter PM2.5*.
*PM2.5 is a particularly dangerous form of air pollution that has been linked to a growing number of health problems from pneumonia and heart disease to dementia and diabetes.

Results

They found that 64 percent of the cities had PM2.5 levels higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) safety guidelines.
Every city in Africa and the Middle East exceeded the guidelines, as well as 99 percent of South Asian cities and 89 percent of East Asian cities.
The study estimates that air pollution will cause seven million early deaths next year.

Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia Yeb Saño told The Guardian:

“Air pollution steals our livelihoods and our futures, but we can change that. We want this report to make people think about the air we breathe, because when we understand the impacts of air quality on our lives, we will act to protect what’s most important.”