Smog bound Indian cities dominate global pollution rankings

PARIS: Despite an improvement in 2024, India again dominated global rankings for the cities with the most dangerous particle smog while Chad was the most polluted country, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The report by IQAir, a Swiss air technology company, said India´s Byrnihat was the world´s “most polluted metropolitan area of 2024”. The Indian capital New Delhi was the world´s most polluted capital, closely followed by Chad´s N´Djamena. The Bangladesh capital Dhaka came third, ahead of Kinshasa and Islaambad.

Chad topped the rankings for the most polluted country overall, with readings 18 times higher than World Health Organisation safe levels for concentrations of particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) It was followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and then India in fifth place. India was home to six of the world´s nine most polluted cities.

Byrnihat, an industrial town on the border of Meghalaya and Assam states, had a PM2.5 reading of 128.2 micrograms per cubic metre on average in 2024, more than 25 times the WHO recommended level of five micrograms. Concentrations across India were 50.6 micrograms per cubic metre, 10 times the WHO safe level, according to the report by IQAir, made with Greenpeace´s support.