Delhi Still the World’s Most Polluted Capital, Air Pollution Slashes India’s Life Expectancy by 5 Years: Report

New Delhi: The 2024 World Air Quality Report has been released and for the sixth consecutive year, New Delhi has been named as the world's most polluted capital, with an average PM 2.5 concentration of 91.8 μg/m3. 13 Indian cities are part of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. Take a look at the key findings of the report…

New Delhi Named World's Most Polluted Capital for 6th Time In A Row

A Switzerland-based air quality monitoring company IQAir has released the 2024 World Air Quality Report, according to which, New Delhi is the world's most polluted capital, for the sixth time in a row. According to the report, Delhi has an average PM 2.5 concentration of 91.8 μg/m3. 

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The report said, “India saw a 7% decline in PM2.5 concentrations in 2024, averaging 50.6 µg/m³ compared to 54.4 µg/m³ in 2023. Yet six of the world’s ten most polluted cities are in India. The capital, New Delhi, maintained consistently high pollution levels, with an annual average of 91.6 µg/m³, nearly unchanged from 92.7 µg/m³ in 2023.”

India 5th Most Polluted Country, Life Expectancy Slashed by Over 5 Years

While New Delhi is the world's most polluted capital, India is the fifth most polluted country in the world, an improvement from the third most polluted country in the world in 2023. India's average AQI, 50.6 μg/m3, is ten times higher than the annual PM2.5 guideline value of 5 μg/m3, mentioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

As per the report, the air pollution in India is having a major long-term impact apart from the health issues that are part of the immediate effects of the pollution. The report says that the pollution has cut down the life expectancy in the country by over five years. Quoting the report, “Air pollution remains a significant health burden in India, reducing life expectancy by an estimated 5.2 years.”

13 Indian Cities Part of 20 Most Polluted Cities in the World

According to the 2024 World Air Quality Report released by IQAir, Byrnihat on the Assam-Meghalaya Border is the most polluted Indian city out of the 13 in the list of 20. The other cities are Faridabad, Gurgaon, Loni (Ghaziabad), Greater Noida, Noida, Muzaffarnagar, Bhiwadi, New Delhi (Central Delhi) and Delhi (taking average from the rest of the city). 

2024 World Air Quality Report: Key Findings

• The 2024 World Air Quality Report, by IQAir, has been prepared based on data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations across 8,954 locations in 138 countries, territories and regions, and analysed by the company's air quality scientists. 
• According to the report, the most polluted metropolitan area in 2024 was Assam's Byrnihat with annual average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 μg/m3. 
• Six of the nine most polluted global cities were from India and the seven most populated cities in the world were from Central and South Asia.
• The report says that 126 out of the 138 countries and regions exceeded WGO's annual PM2.5 guideline value of 5 μg/m3 and only 17 percent of them were aligned with the air pollution guidelines set by WHO.
• Los Angeles, California was the most polluted major city in the US and California was the most polluted city in the US.