As per the World Air Quality Report released by Swiss firm IQAir, India has dropped to 8th position from the 5th in terms of the world’s most polluted countries in 2022. The report also states that of the 50 most polluted cities in the world, 39 are in India.

The report has been prepared on the basis of data collected from 131 countries, and used more than 30,000 ground-based monitors. As per the report, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh are the top three most polluted countries in the world. Also, Estonia, Australia, Finland, Iceland, Grenada, and New Zealand were among the few other countries that could not match the limit prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

If reports are to go by, the transportation sector in India causes 20-35% of the PM2.5 pollution, while the other sources of pollution are coal-fired power plants, industrial units, and biomass burning. Reportedly, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan have been listed third among the world’s most polluted cities, while Delhi was in the fourth position with PM2.5 level, which is almost 20 times the safe limit.

The top places in the list were Lahore in Pakistan, Hotan in China, followed by Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi, and then, Delhi at the fourth spot.

Delhi so far has been the world’s most polluted capital, and the report also made a distinction between ‘greater’ Delhi and New Delhi, the capital. While both are in the top 10, the distinction of the world’s most polluted capital goes to Chad’s capital N’Djamena.