90% breathe toxic air globally, Kanpur, Delhi among most polluted; updates

The World Health Organization (WHO) in its pollution report on Wednesday ranked 14 Indian cities among world’s 15 most polluted cities in the world with Kanpur being the most affected based on PM2.5 levels in 2016. While Gwalior stood second in the chart, other cities like Delhi, Varanasi Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur also featured in the list. The study ranked 4,300 cities in 108 countries across the world.

On the basis of PM10 levels, 13 cities in India figured among the 20 most-polluted cities of the world in 2016.

The WHO data also said that nine out of 10 people or 90 per cent of people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. The estimations revealed an alarming death toll of 7 million people every year caused by ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution.

More than 90 per cent of air pollution-related deaths occur in countries with low-and-middle income, added the report, mainly in Asia and Africa, according to media reports.