Delhi is no longer the most polluted city in the world, neither it is among the top ten worst toxic cities, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) urban air quality database released on Thursday. In fact, it now ranks 11th among 3,000 cities in 103 countries in terms of PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter) presence in the air and 25th in terms of PM 10 (coarse pollution particles) levels.
This is a considerable improvement since 2014 when New Delhi was ranked worst with a PM2.5 reading of 153. The WHO had monitored only 1,600 cities last time. This time 1,400 more cities have been included in the urban outdoor air quality database.
According to the survey, the most polluted air was recorded at Zabol in Iran, which suffers from months of dust storms in the summer, and which clocked PM2.5 measure of 217. However, in the list of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, the second and third most polluted cities are from India — Gwalior and Allahabad.
In fact, lesser number of Indian cities is in the list of top 10 and top 20 most polluted cities this year. Four are in top 10 lists as opposed to six last time and 10 are in the top 20 list as opposed to 13 last time.
But the bad news is that pollution levels are worse in several other Indian cities, said the Centre for Science and Environment in a statement.
“It is disturbing that several Indian cities — in fact smaller cities — have shown substantial increase in pollution levels since 2014. PM2.5 in Allahabad has increased by 92 per cent; in ludhiana 34 per cent; in Khanna 30 per cent; Kanpur 24 per cent; Agra 20 per cent; lucknow 18 per cent, and Amritsar 17 per cent among others.
“This indicates that air pollution is a national crisis now. According to the Global Burden of Disease, air pollution is the fifth largest killer in the country,” it added.
Tiny particulate matter can cause lung cancer, strokes and heart disease over the long term, as well as trigger symptoms such as heart attacks that kill more rapidly. The WHO said more than 7 million premature deaths occur every year due to air pollution, 3 million of them due to outdoor air quality.
But WHO experts acknowledge India faces a “huge challenge”, many countries are so bad that they have no monitoring system and cannot be included in its ranking.
Maria Neira, head of public health, environmental and social determinants of health at the WHO, praised the Indian Government for developing a national plan to deal with the problem when others have been unable to.
“Probably some of the worst cities that are the most polluted ones in the world are not included in our list, just because they are so bad that they do not even have a good system of monitoring of air quality, so it’s unfair to compare or give a rank,” she said in a statement.
Common causes of air pollution include too many cars, especially diesel-fuelled vehicles, the heating and cooling of big buildings, waste management, agriculture and the use of coal or diesel generators for power.
On average, pollution levels worsened by 8 per cent between 2008 and 2013, although most cities in rich countries improved the state of their air over the same period.
Overall, 80 per cent of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality that do not meet WHO guidelines. “The trend is for worsening air pollution in low-and middle-income countries overall and improving air quality in the higher-income country,” said Carlos Dora, coordinator at WHO’s public health and environment department,
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director for South-East Asia added, “We have overwhelming evidence of the impact of air pollution on stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases. Globally, in 2012 air pollution in urban areas is estimated to have caused 3.7 million deaths with more than one-third reported from the South-East Asia Region.”
Though awareness is rising, there is an urgent need to address the problem and implement evidence-based interventions, she noted.
“Most sources of urban outdoor air pollution are well beyond the control of individuals and demand action by cities, as well as national and international policymakers to promote cleaner transport, more efficient energy production and waste management,” the WHO said in a statement.