Pakistan 2nd most polluted country in 2023

LAHORE: Pakistan emerged as the second most polluted country among the most polluted countries in 2023.

The annual average particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration was 14 times above WHO guidelines at 73.7 g/m³ nationwide as reported by IQAir’s annual World Air Quality Report 2023 released here on Tuesday.

This leads to a loss in life expectancy of 4.4 years across Pakistan as calculated by the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), a research centre and think tank focused on Pakistan’s air pollution problem through research, data and analytics.

The report revealed that Lahore is the world’s 5th most polluted city, and most polluted mega city with pollution levels at 99.5 g/m³, 20 times higher than WHO guidelines for exposure to fine particulate level pollution. “Pollution levels in Lahore were even worse than New Delhi, which is 92.7 g/m³”.

Data reported by the Environmental Protection Department of Punjab for Lahore also showed alarming levels of hazardous air pollution at 108 g/m³. Especially alarming were the pollution levels during the smog season, averaging 251 g/m³ in November, underlying the need for urgent action.

Particulate matter pollution was especially dangerous for health as it can penetrate through lung tissue and enter into the bloodstream. Other pollutants include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, which should also be monitored and regulated to be within safe limits.

Head of Pulmonology & Director, Lung Health Programme, Indus Hospital and Health Network, Dr Saima Saeed, said that these dangerous levels of air pollution significantly contribute to multiple health issues, causing chest infections and lung cancer as well as worsening lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“Pakistan’s poor air quality also causes other non-communicable diseases such as strokes, mental health issues and diabetes besides affecting fertility and cognitive development of children.”

The top worst polluted cities in Pakistan are Lahore (99.5), Faisalabad (88.2), Peshawar (76.5), Rawalpindi (59.5), Karachi (56.4) and Islamabad (42.4).

PAQI CEO Dawar Hameed said, “Islamabad has gone up from 17th place to 9th in the list of most polluted capitals in the world, while Pakistan has been ranked as the 2nd most polluted country for the first time after being 3rd consistently.

“All these negative developments occurred at a time when the economy is weak and overall activities are lower than previous years. These indicators are showing that poor air quality is a crisis that has minimal attention from successive govts and consequently turned into a daunting public health crisis.”

IQAir Global CEO Frank Hammes said that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a universal human right. In many parts of the world, the lack of air quality data delays decisive action and perpetuates unnecessary human suffering.

Local and regional efforts were required to manage air pollution in Pakistan, as well as strengthening and capacity building of the regulatory bodies for monitoring emissions.