India’s cities have the most polluted air: Study

KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in India, reported Bloomberg yesterday.

Basing its report on data released by studies by IQ AirVisual and Greenpeace, it said the northern Indian city Gurugram is the globe’s most polluted.

Gurugram is located southwest of India’s capital New Delhi

According to reports, researchers studied the presence of fine particulate matter called PM2.5 to measure the level of air pollution.

The PM2.5 pollutant “can fester deep in the lungs and bloodstream of human beings”, wrote Bloomberg.

The Independent daily from the UK reported that “the World Health Organisation (WHO) sets a daily mean air quality guideline of just 25 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air”.

AirVisual therefore says Gurugram's annual average concentration of 135.8 micrograms per cubic metre is "very unhealthy".

"Air pollution steals our livelihoods and our futures, but we can change that. In addition to human lives lost, there’s an estimated global cost of US$225 billion in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs," said Yeb Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, in a statement.

"This has enormous impacts, on our health and on our wallets. 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,” he added.

Greenpeace International also revealed that for Southeast Asia, Jakarta and Hanoi are Southeast Asia’s two most polluted cities.

But it looks like China has made improvements. Average concentrations in Chinese cities fell by 12% from 2017 to 2018.

“With Beijing’s air quality getting better, Jakarta risks overtaking China’s famously polluted capital soon,” wrote Greenpeace International.