Gurugram world's most polluted city, Delhi worst capital, reveals Greenpeace study

Seven of the world’s most polluted cities are in India with Gurugram being on top of the table, according to the data released by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace. Apart from Gurugram, six other Indian cities were in the top 10 list of the most polluted cities in the world. As per the study that measured the presence of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, New Delhi has been ranked the most polluted capital in the world.

The six other Indian cities in the top 10 list are - Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Noida, Patna and Lucknow. In the list, two cities are of Pakistan - Lahore and Faisalabad and one is the Chinese city of Hotan.

The study by the IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace was based on the air quality data collected in 2018 from public monitoring sources which were published in real time or near real time.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) permits the annual limit for PM 2.5 is 10ug/m3, whereas, according to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the annual permissible limit for PM2.5 is 40ug/m3.

Air pollution, both outside and inside homes, is a silent and prolific killer responsible for the premature death of seven million people each year, including 600,000 children, according to a UN expert on environment and human rights.

Air pollution due to crop residue burning in northern India causes an estimated economic loss of $30 billion annually, and is a leading risk factor of acute respiratory infections, especially among children, according to a study unveiled Monday.

Researchers from the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partner institutes found that living in districts with air pollution from intense crop residue burning (CRB) is a leading risk factor for acute respiratory infection (ARI), particularly in children less than five years of age.